Polyphosphate and trimetaphosphate formation under potentially prebiotic conditions.

When ammonium dihydrogen phosphate is heated with urea to temperatures in the range from 85 to 100 C, it polymerizes almost quantitatively to give polyphosphates containing, on the average, more than ten (PO3) residues. Similar experiments carried out at 72 C give polyphosphate in more than 60% yield. If a nucleoside (thymidine or 3 prime-deoxythymidine) is added to the reaction mixture, up to 23% of trimetaphosphate can be obtained at 100 C. The prebiotic significance of these reactions is discussed.