The chemistry of abiotic nucleotide synthesis of RNA and DNA in the context of their prebiotic origins on early earth is a continuing challenge. How did (or how can) the nucleotides form and assemble from the small molecule inventories and under conditions that prevailed on early earth 3.5–4 billion years ago? This review provides a background and up-to-date progress that will allow the reader to judge where the field stands currently and what remains to be achieved. We start with a brief primer on the biological synthesis of nucleotides, followed by an extensive focus on the prebiotic formation of the components of nucleotides—either via the synthesis of ribose and the canonical nucleobases and then joining them together or by building both the conjoined sugar and nucleobase, part-by-part—toward the ultimate goal of forming RNA and DNA by polymerization. The review will emphasize that there are—and will continue to be—many more questions than answers from the synthetic, mechanistic, and analytical perspectives. We wrap up the review with a cautionary note in this context about coming to conclusions as to whether the problem of chemistry of prebiotic nucleotide synthesis has been solved.

中文翻译：

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非生物核苷酸合成化学。

在早期地球上的益生元起源的背景下，RNA和DNA的非生物核苷酸合成化学一直是一个挑战。在3.5亿四十亿年前的地球早期盛行的条件下，核苷酸如何（或如何）从小分子库存中形成和组装？这篇综述提供了背景知识和最新进展，使读者能够判断该领域当前的立场以及尚待实现的目标。我们首先简要介绍核苷酸的生物合成，然后广泛关注核苷酸的组成成分的益生元形成-通过合成核糖和典型的核碱基，然后将它们连接在一起或通过构建连接糖和核碱基，逐步实现通过聚合形成RNA和DNA的最终目标。审查将强调，从综合，机械和分析的角度来看，存在的问题将继续存在，而且将继续存在许多问题。在此情况下，我们在总结时总结了有关益生元核苷酸合成化学问题是否得到解决的结论，并附有警示性说明。