A recent book chapter contributed by researchers at the Center for Chemical Evolution (CCE) describes a defining moment in the science of organic chemistry, and how this discipline led to various lines of study in astrobiology today. The chapter explores the role of the molecule urea as a ‘foundational component in the origin of nucleobases and nucelotides.’ In 1828, German scientist Friedrich Wöhler found that urea could be produced from inorganic material through the hydrolysis of cyanide. This was an important milestone in organic chemistry and, ever since, urea has been used in models aimed at understanding the origins of life. Urea can be formed in a range of solution through evaporation or freezing, and could have been the basis for prebiotic environments on the ancient Earth. For animals today, urea is used in the metabolism of nitrogen-containing compounds and is important in nitrogen excretion from the body.

The chapter, “From the Dawn of Organic Chemistry to Astrobiology: Urea as a Foundational Component in the Origin of Nucleobases and Nucleotides,” was published in Prebiotic Chemistry and Chemical Evolution of Nucleic Acids, and provides a history of the prebiotic chemistry of urea, from Wöhler to today. The NSF/NASA Center for Chemical Evolution (CCE) at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, is a collaborative program supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the NASA Astrobiology Program.