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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Split-and-pool Synthesis and Characterization of Peptide Tertiary Amide Library
Published on: June 20, 2014
Alpha-amino acid behaves differently from beta- or gamma-amino acids as treated by trimetaphosphate
1The Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
Abstract:
The condensation reactions of sodium trimetaphosphate with single amino acids, namely glycine, L-alanine, beta-alanine and gamma-aminobutyric acid or pairs of these amino acids were reinvestigated by electrospray ion-trap mass spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatography. It was found when mixtures were treated by sodium trimetaphosphate only in the presence of alpha-amino acid dipeptides were formed. Without addition of alpha-amino acids, the beta-amino acid or gamma-aminobutyric acid could not form peptide either by themselves or with their mixtures under the same conditions. From the data it is concluded that phosphate might select alpha-amino acids to produce the peptides being important precursors for the origin of life.
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