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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Synthesizing Amino Acids Modified with Reactive Carbonyls in Silico to Assess Structural Effects Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations
Published on: April 26, 2024
Amino acid synthesis in a supercritical carbon dioxide - water system
Kouki Fujioka1,2, Yasuhiro Futamura1, Tomoo Shiohara3
1International Clinical Research Centre, Research Institute, International Medical Centre of Japan, 1-21-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Abstract:
Mars is a CO(2)-abundant planet, whereas early Earth is thought to be also CO(2)-abundant. In addition, water was also discovered on Mars in 2008. From the facts and theory, we assumed that soda fountains were present on both planets, and this affected amino acid synthesis. Here, using a supercritical CO(2)/liquid H(2)O (10:1) system which mimicked crust soda fountains, we demonstrate production of amino acids from hydroxylamine (nitrogen source) and keto acids (oxylic acid sources). In this research, several amino acids were detected with an amino acid analyzer. Moreover, alanine polymers were detected with LC-MS. Our research lights up a new pathway in the study of life's origin.
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