Chirality and the First Self-Replicating Molecules

Abstract

It seems certain that the 1st self-replicating RNA mols. did not arise by spontaneous chem. synthesis in some prebiotic soup. A possible explanation for their origin is that self-replication first developed in another, nucleic acid-like, system which was not based on D-ribose and that RNA was formed at a later stage in evolution. One possibility for such a system, based on the nonchiral reduced sugar pentaerythritol, has recently been proposed (Schwartz, A. W., 1993). Preliminary results with the 1st of a series of model compds. designed to test this proposal are reported. [on SciFinder(R)]