Stability toward High Energy Radiation of Non-Proteinogenic Amino Acids: Implications for the Origins of Life
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Experimental Section
2.1. Materials and Equipment
2.2. Irradiation Procedure with γ Rays
2.3. Analysis with Differential Scanning Calorimetry
Equation 3 | Equation 2 | Pristine | 3.2 MGy | Equation 1 | σ | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amino Acid | Rα | Rγ | ΔH0 melt. (J/g) | ΔHγ melt. (J/g) | Nγ% | Standard deviation 3 × 3 measu-rement | Residual weight after radiolysis (%) | Notes after radiolysis |
(*)2-Aminoisobutyric acid [α-AIB] | n.a. | n.a. | 1081.0 | 944.8 | 87.4 | 1.1 | 97.6 | yellow, aminic and fatty odor |
(*) dl-3-aminoisobutyric a. [dl-3-AIB] | n.a. | n.a. | 180.3 | 153.5 | 85.1 | 1.5 | 95.4 | pale yellow aminic odor |
(*) d-2-aminobutyric acid [d-ABA] | 78.6 | 75.0 | 796.3 | 601.0 | 75.5 | 0.5 | 97.2 | dark yellow, aminic and fatty odor |
(*) l-2-aminobutyric acid [l-ABA] | 64.3 | 73.7 | 752.1 | 543.1 | 72.2 | 4.6 | 92.8 | yellow, aminic and fatty odor |
(*) l-β-homoalanine HCl [β-Ala] | 84.2 | 86.4 | 476.0 | 365.0 | 76.7 | n.d. | 95.9 | brown, sweet odor; DSC shows melting with decomposition |
l-β-homoglutamic acid HCl [β-Glu] | 91.3 | 93.4 | 180.2 | 134.8 | 74.8 | n.d. | 94.0 | cream color; DSC only melting peak considered |
(*) l-norleucine [Nle] | 63.6 | 70.8 | 681.4 | 488.5 | 71.7 | n.d. | 93.0 | light yellow, weak aminic odor |
(*) l-norvaline [Nvl] | 81.0 | 84.0 | 782.1 | 549.0 | 70.2 | n.d. | 96.8 | pale yellow, distinctive aminic odor |
S(−)-α-Methylvaline [α-MV] | 88.7 | 92.8 | 850.9 | 595.2 | 69.9 | n.d. | 95.8 | pale yellow, pungent odor |
l-β-leucine HCl [β-Leu] | 74.3 | 79.9 | 138.9 | 74.2 | 53.4 | n.d. | 94.5 | cream color, sweet odor; DSC only melting peak considered |
2.4. Analysis of the Radioracemization Degree by Optical Rotatory Dispersion Spectroscopy
2.5. FT-IR Analysis of the Amino Acids
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Amino Acids Selection
3.2. Non-Proteinaceous Amino Acids Radiolysis: Infrared Difference Spectroscopy
3.3. Amino Acids Weight Loss after 3.2 MGy Radiolysis
3.4. Residual Purity Measurement of Amino Acids after 3.2 MGy Radiolysis
Amino Acid | Abbreviation | Melting point °C pristine reference | Melting point °C after radiolysis | Melting point shift after radiolysis |
---|---|---|---|---|
2-Aminoisobutyric acid (*) | α-AIB | 340.3 | 327.7 | −12.0 |
dl-3-aminoisobutyric a. (*) | dl-3-AIB | 172.1 | 171.2 | −0.9 |
d-2-aminobutyric acid (*) | d-ABA | 301.3 | 290.0 | −11.3 |
l-2-aminobutyric acid (*) | l-ABA | 302.9 | 290.2 | −12.7 |
l-β-Homolanine HCl (*) | l-β-Ala | 244.5 | 243.5 | −1.0 |
l-β-homoglutamic acid HCl | l-β-Glu | 190.8 | 182.7 | −8.1 |
l-norleucine (*) | l-Nle | 322.9 | 297.4 | −25.5 |
l-norvaline (*) | l-Nvl | 321.2 | 302.6 | −18.6 |
S(−)-α-Methylvaline | α-MV | 306.1 | 298.8 | −7.3 |
l-β-leucine HCl | l-β-Leu | 176.3 | 159.8 | −16.5 |
3.5. Measurement of the Optical Activity and Optical Rotatory Dispersion (ORD)
4. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Conflict of Interest
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Cataldo, F.; Iglesias-Groth, S.; Angelini, G.; Hafez, Y. Stability toward High Energy Radiation of Non-Proteinogenic Amino Acids: Implications for the Origins of Life. Life 2013, 3, 449-473. https://doi.org/10.3390/life3030449
Cataldo F, Iglesias-Groth S, Angelini G, Hafez Y. Stability toward High Energy Radiation of Non-Proteinogenic Amino Acids: Implications for the Origins of Life. Life. 2013; 3(3):449-473. https://doi.org/10.3390/life3030449
Chicago/Turabian StyleCataldo, Franco, Susana Iglesias-Groth, Giancarlo Angelini, and Yaser Hafez. 2013. "Stability toward High Energy Radiation of Non-Proteinogenic Amino Acids: Implications for the Origins of Life" Life 3, no. 3: 449-473. https://doi.org/10.3390/life3030449