Nonenzymatic carbamoylation and phosphorylation via urea nitrosylation under mild aqueous conditions

Abstract

Here, we present copper sulfide-promoted urea nitrosylation as a nonenzymatic means of carbamoylation, demonstrating a variety of prebiotically important reactions, including the formation of carbamoyl phosphate from urea and phosphate, the phosphorylation of uridine to uridine monophosphate, and the carbamoylation of aspartate at 25 °C and pH 6–7.