Synthesis
In a scholarly article published in October 2009, NASA scientists reported having reproduced uracil from pyrimidine by exposing it to ultraviolet light under space-like conditions. This suggests that one possible natural original source for uracil in the RNA world could have been panspermia.
There are many laboratory syntheses of uracil available. The first reaction is the simplest of the syntheses, by adding water to cytosine to produce uracil and ammonia. The most common way to synthesize uracil is by the condensation of maleic acid with urea in fuming sulfuric acid as seen below also. Uracil can also be synthesized by a double decomposition of thiouracil in aqueous chloroacetic acid.
- C4H5N3O + H2O → C4H4N2O2 + NH3
- C4H4O4 + CH4N2O → C4H4N2O2 + 2 H2O + CO
Photodehydrogenation of 5,6-diuracil, which is synthesized by beta-alanine reacting with urea, produces uracil.
Read more about this topic: Uracil
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