An efficient prebiotic synthesis of cytosine and uracil

Authors: M. P. Robertson, S. L. Miller IN contrast to the purines, the routes that have been proposed for the prebiotic synthesis of pyrimidines from simple precursors give only low yields. Cytosine can be synthesized from cyano-acetylene and cyanate; the former precursor is produced from a spark discharge in a CH4/N2 mixture and is an abundant interstellar molecule. But this…