Chemical Evolution of Simple Amino Acids to Asparagine under Discharge onto the Primitive Hydrosphere: Simulation Experiments Using Contact Glow Discharge

Asparagine is an important amino acid for abiotic polypeptide synthesis. In simulation experiments, it was obtained in 3.0% yield (based on the amount of consumed alanine) from alanine (100 mM) and formamide (200 mM) by contact glow discharge (Harada discharge) onto aqueous solutions. The present results suggest that asparagine could be abiotically synthesized from simple amino acids under possible primitive earth conditions.