Fig. 1
From: Selective prebiotic synthesis of phosphoroaminonitriles and aminothioamides in neutral water
Masked Strecker reaction. a Strecker reactions proceed with ammonia (NH3) at high pH to furnish aminonitriles (3) (blue arrow). b Ammonia is protonated (NH4+) at neutral pH, which blocks low pH Strecker reaction with ammonia (magenta arrow). If ammonia is masked (green arrows) to yield an amine with a low pKaH, the Strecker reaction can proceed at low pH before the latent primary amine moiety is unmasked to liberate the free NH2-moiety. c Prebiotic synthesis of diamidophosphate (DAP) from cyclotrimetaphosphate (cTMP)
