Evolution of urea from prebiotic molecule to supramolecular architecture (review)

Abstract

The article shows that urea - as an archetypal prebiotic compound on the one hand, and, reactive oxygen-containing compounds - on the other hand, serve as a basis for the formation of a large repertoire of chemical compounds, which are represented by various acyclic and heterocyclic carbamide-containing substances. Among the urea-containing substances, this paper pays special attention to the use of the prebiotic monomer urea as a starting building block in synthetic organic chemistry, including novel macrocyclic and supramolecular systems. Although most of the urea chemistry experiments performed have been conducted under conditions that are far from prebiotic-like states - some intermediate results of the studies performed open the way on the trajectory of formation of complex nitrogen-containing organic molecules that may emerge from the iterative assembly of urea and reactive components. The proposed work draws considerable attention to various practical applications of acyclic and heterocyclic urea. Among the numerous valuable acyclic and heterocyclic ureas, the most important substances that have found practical applications in human life are highlighted separately. The summarized information on the chemistry and applications of urea indicate its continuous development by convergence of knowledge in chemistry, physics, materials science and medicine.