Ammonia Miller-Urey experiment

Morowitz et al. (1995) chose a completely different route. They were able to synthesize glutamic acid from a-ketoglutarate, ammonia and formic acid in an aqueous medium without using enzymes. It is noteworthy that the reducing agent, formic acid, is one of the main products in the Miller-Urey experiment. 

As already mentioned, hydrogen cyanide is formed in simulation experiments using reducing primeval atmospheres. CN was discovered in interstellar space as early as 1940 by optical spectroscopy (Breuer, 1974), and later HCN itself (from measurements using millimetre wavelengths). Only a few years after the Miller-Urey experiments, Kotake et al. (1956) obtained HCN in good yields by reacting methane with ammonia over aluminium-silicate contacts ... 

Figure 2. Variations in the concentrations of ammonia, aldehydes and hydrogen cyanide in the Miller-Urey experiment.

Miller-Urey synthesis formation of organic molecules by the passage of an electric discharge, or energetic radiation, through a mixture of methane and ammonia over refluxing water. It is often used for analogous experiments. 

In the 1950s it was assumed that the primitive Earth atmosphere consisted of methane CH4, ammonia NH3, hydrogen H2 and water H2O and S.L. Miller and H.C. Urey carried out a famous experiment at the University of Chicago. They simulated the primitive Earth atmosphere and ran continuous electric currents simulating lightning storms, which were very common on the early Earth, to this environment. After one week, 10-15 amino acids were found in this primordial soup. 

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