The Original Formation of Amino Acids 



103 



charge (using electrodes in the form of two circular plates inserted into the dis- 

 charge tube at a distance of 5 cm from one another) lasting 100 hours at a 

 potential of about 24 kV with a mixture of the following composition : 



CH4 and NH3 — 200 mm Hg; CO — 100 mm Hg 



and water vapour up to atmospheric pressure. At the end of the experiment the 

 solution was analysed in the ordinary way with preliminary vacuum distillation 

 to remove amines and volatile organic acids and the concentrate was chromato- 

 graphed [3, 6]. In this way we established (Fig. 4) the presence of a number of 



Fig. 4. Chromatograms of amino acids synthesized in an electric discharge. 



amino acids: glycine, a- and /3-alanine, a-aminobutyric acid and aspartic and 

 glutamic acids. We did not study the mechanism of their formation but it would 

 appear that the formation of cyanhydrins, as postulated by Miller, played an 

 essential part, as HCN was found to be present in the solution after the passage 

 of the discharge. The results of our experiments and theoretical considerations 

 indicate that the presence of free hydrogen in the gaseous mixture is not neces- 

 sary for the formation of amino acids in an electric discharge. It is possible that, 

 during the evolutionary development of the Earth, more favourable conditions 

 for the formation of amino acids in the atmosphere existed at the stage when a 

 considerable part of its hydrogen had been lost and the atmosphere, while still 

 retaining its reducing character, could have contained a relatively large quantity 

 of CO. Under such conditions amino acids could have been formed, not only in 



