Mechanochemical Activation of Iron Cyano Complexes: A Prebiotic Impact Scenario for the Synthesis of α‐Amino Acid Derivatives

Mechanochemical activation of iron cyano complexes by ball milling results in the formation of HCN, which can be trapped and incorporated into α-aminonitriles. This prebiotic impact scenario can be extended by mechanochemically transforming the resulting α-aminonitriles into α-amino amides using a chemical route related to early Earth conditions.