31P NMR Study on the Reactions of Amino Acids and Sugar Derivatives with Pyrophosphorous Acid as a Possible Prebiotic Phosphonylating Agent

Phosphorus is an essential element in living organisms. Evaluating prebiotic processes that lead to phosphorylated biomolecules is an important step toward understanding the origin of life. Schreibersite ([Fe,Ni]3P) is a meteoritic phosphorus mineral which releases various phosphorus species reactive toward biomolecules. We studied the reactions between biomolecules and pyrophosphorus acid (H4P2O5), which is a phosphorous acid derivative released from schreibersite. The reactions between pyrophosphorous acid and molecules having hydroxy groups were carried out under mild alkaline conditions. Notably, some biologically important molecules such as l-serine, l-tyrosine, l-threonine, d-ribose, and d-glyceraldehyde reacted with pyrophosphorous acid to give corresponding phosphonates. These results suggested that if schreibersite and the biomolecules co-existed in the prebiotic earth, they formed the phosphonates which were able to play roles as surrogates or precursors of phosphorylated biomolecules.