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2023
Selective Synthesis of Lysine Peptides and the Prebiotically Plausible Synthesis of Catalytically Active Diaminopropionic Acid Peptide Nitriles in Water
Thoma, B.; Powner, M. W. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2023
2022
Prebiotic triose glycolysis promoted by co-catalytic proline and phosphate in neutral water
Magalhães, Á. F.; Powner, M. W. Chemical Communications. 2022
Photochemistry of 2-thiooxazole: a plausible prebiotic precursor to RNA nucleotides
Bertram, L.; Roberts, S. J.; Powner, M. W.; Szabla, R. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 2022
Prebiotic synthesis and triphosphorylation of 3′-amino-TNA nucleosides
Whitaker, D.; Powner, M. W., Nature Chemistry. 2022
Prebiotic Catalytic Peptide Ligation Yields Proteinogenic Peptides by Intramolecular Amide Catalyzed Hydrolysis Facilitating Regioselective Lysine Ligation in Neutral Water
Singh, J.; Whitaker, D.; Thoma, B.; Islam, S.; Foden, C. S.; Aliev, A. E.; Sheppard, T. D.; Powner, M. W., Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2022
2021
Selective Prebiotic Synthesis of α‐Threofuranosyl Cytidine by Photochemical Anomerization.
Colville, W. F. B. and Powner, M. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2021.
2020
Prebiotic Synthesis of Cysteine Peptides That Catalyze Peptide Ligation in Neutral Water.
Foden, C.; Islam, S.; Garcia, C. A. F.; Maugeri, L.; Sheppard, T.; and Powner, M. Science, 370 (6518): 865-869. 2020.
2019
Analyses of Aliphatic Aldehydes and Ketones in Carbonaceous Chondrites.
Aponte, J. C.; Whitaker, D.; Powner, M. W.; Elsila, J. E.; and Dworkin, J. P. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 3(3): 463–472. 2019.
Selective prebiotic synthesis of phosphoroaminonitriles and aminothioamides in neutral water.
Ashe, K.; Fernández-García, C.; Corpinot, M. K.; Coggins, A. J.; Bučar, D. K.; and Powner, M. W. Communications Chemistry, 2(1). 2019.
Heated gas bubbles enrich, crystallize, dry, phosphorylate and encapsulate prebiotic molecules.
Morasch, M.; Liu, J.; Dirscherl, C. F.; Ianeselli, A.; Kühnlein, A.; Le Vay, K.; Schwintek, P.; Islam, S.; Corpinot, M. K.; Scheu, B.; Dingwell, D. B.; Schwille, P.; Mutschler, H.; Powner, M. W.; Mast, C. B.; and Braun, D. Nature Chemistry, 11(9): 779–788. 2019.
Peptide ligation by chemoselective aminonitrile coupling in water.
Canavelli, P.; Islam, S.; and Powner, M. W. Nature, 571(7766): 546–549. 2019.
2018
Protocells realize their potential.
Islam, S.; and Powner, M. W. Nature Catalysis, 1(8): 569–570. 2018.
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Photostability of oxazoline RNA-precursors in UV-rich prebiotic environments.
Janicki, M. J.; Roberts, S. J.; Šponer, J.; Powner, M. W.; Góra, R. W.; and Szabla, R. Chemical Communications, 54(95): 13407–13410. 2018.
Selective aqueous acetylation controls the photoanomerization of α-cytidine-5′-phosphate.
Fernández-García, C.; Grefenstette, N. M.; and Powner, M. W. Chemical Communications, 54(38): 4850–4853. 2018.
Selective prebiotic conversion of pyrimidine and purine anhydronucleosides into Watson-Crick base-pairing arabino-furanosyl nucleosides in water.
Roberts, S. J.; Szabla, R.; Todd, Z. R.; Stairs, S.; Bučar, D. K.; Šponer, J.; Sasselov, D. D.; and Powner, M. W. Nature Communications, 9(1). 2018.
Prebiotic nucleic acids need space to grow.
Whitaker, D.; and Powner, M. W. Nature Communications, 9(1). 2018.
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2017
Prebiotic Systems Chemistry: Complexity Overcoming Clutter.
Islam, S.; and Powner, M. W. Chem, 2(4): 470–501. 2017.
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Prebiotic synthesis of aminooxazoline-5′-phosphates in water by oxidative phosphorylation.
Fernández-García, C.; Grefenstette N. M. and Powner, M. W. Chem. Commun., 2017, 53, 4919
Scalable Synthesis of 2,2′-Anhydro-arabinofuranosyl Imidazoles.
Stairs, S.; and Powner, M. W. Synlett, 28(19): 2650–2654. 2017.
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Prebiotic selection and assembly of proteinogenic amino acids and natural nucleotides from complex mixtures.
Islam, S.; Bučar, D. K.; and Powner, M. W. Nature Chemistry, 9(6): 584–589. 2017.
Selective Acylation of Nucleosides, Nucleotides, and Glycerol-3-phosphocholine in Water.
Fernández-García, C.; and Powner, M. W. Synlett, 28(1): 78–83. 2017.
Divergent prebiotic synthesis of pyrimidine and 8-oxo-purine ribonucleotides.
Stairs, S.; Nikmal, A.; Bǔar, D. K.; Zheng, S. L.; Szostak, J. W.; and Powner, M. W. Nature Communications, 8. 2017.
A chemist's perspective on the role of phosphorus at the origins of life.
Fernández-García, C.; Coggins, A. J.; and Powner, M. W. Life, 7(3). 2017.
2016
Prebiotic synthesis of phosphoenol pyruvate by α-phosphorylation-controlled triose glycolysis.
Coggins, A. J.; and Powner, M. W. Nature Chemistry, 9(4): 310–317. 2016.
2015
One-step protecting-group-free synthesis of azepinomycin in water.
Coggins, A. J.; Tocher, D. A.; and Powner, M. W. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 13(11): 3378–3381. 2015.
2013
Detection of potential TNA and RNA nucleoside precursors in a prebiotic mixture by pure shift diffusion-ordered NMR spectroscopy.
Islam, S.; Aguilar, J. A.; Powner, M. W.; Nilsson, M.; Morris, G. A.; and Sutherland, J. D. Chemistry - A European Journal, 19(14): 4586–4595. 2013.
Prebiotically plausible oligoribonucleotide ligation facilitated by chemoselective acetylation.
Bowler, F. R.; Chan, C. K.; Duffy, C. D.; Gerland, B.; Islam, S.; Powner, M. W.; Sutherland, J. D.; and Xu, J. Nature Chemistry, 5(5): 383–389. 2013.
Functional RNAs exhibit tolerance for non-heritable 2′-5′ versus 3′-5′ backbone heterogeneity.
Engelhart, A. E.; Powner, M. W.; and Szostak, J. W. Nature Chemistry, 5(5): 390–394. 2013.
2012
Multicomponent assembly of proposed DNA precursors in water.
Powner, M. W.; Zheng, S. L.; and Szostak, J. W. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 134(33): 13889–13895. 2012.
2011
Prebiotic chemistry: A new modus operandi.
Powner, M. W.; and Sutherland, J. D. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 366(1580): 2870–2877. 2011.
The origins of nucleotides.
Powner, M. W.; Sutherland, J. D.; and Szostak, J. W. Synlett, (14): 1956–1964. 2011.
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2010
Phosphate-mediated interconversion of Ribo- and Arabino-configured prebiotic nucleotide intermediates.
Powner, M. W.; and Sutherland, J. D. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 49(27): 4641–4643. 2010.
Chemoselective multicomponent one-pot assembly of purine precursors in water.
Powner, M. W.; Sutherland, J. D.; and Szostak, J. W. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 132(46): 16677–16688. 2010.
A stereoelectronic effect in prebiotic nucleotide synthesis.
Choudhary, A.; Kamer, K. J.; Powner, M. W.; Sutherland, J. D.; and Raines, R. T. ACS Chemical Biology, 5(7): 655–657. 2010.
2009
Synthesis of activated pyrimidine ribonucleotides in prebiotically plausible conditions.
Powner, M. W.; Gerland, B.; and Sutherland, J. D. Nature, 459(7244): 239–242. 2009.
2008
Potentially prebiotic synthesis of pyrimidine β-D-ribonucleotides by photoanomerization/hydrolysis of α-D-cytidine-2′-phosphate.
Powner, M. W.; and Sutherland, J. D. ChemBioChem, 9(15): 2386–2387. 2008.
2007
RNA: Prebiotic product, or biotic invention?
Anastasi, C.; Buchet, F. F.; Crowe, M. A.; Parkes, A. L.; Powner, M. W.; Smith, J. M.; and Sutherland, J. D. , 4(4): 721–739. 2007.
On the prebiotic synthesis of ribonucleotides: Photoanomerisation of cytosine nucleosides and nucleotides revisited.
Powner, M. W.; Anastasi, C.; Crowe, M. A.; Parkes, A. L.; Raftery, J.; and Sutherland, J. D. ChemBioChem, 8(10): 1170–1179. 2007.
2006
Direct Assembly of Nucleoside Precursors from Two- and Three-Carbon Units.
Anastasi, C.; Crowe, M. A.; Powner, M. W.; and Sutherland, J. D. Angewandte Chemie, 118(37): 6322–6325. 2006.