I love the way you try to push my buttons so as to get me mad and lash out at you, while still raising valid points. That takes real political talent; I congratulate you.
"Where on the primitive earth are you going to find a mixture of amino acids that is 2/3 aspartic and glutamic and 1/3 of the other 18 amino acids and has no non-amino acid organic compounds in it...including sugars???"
Who (besides you) has ever claimed that these precise exact conditions, and only these precise exact conditions, are needed to get proteinoids or microspheres? Certainly not Fox or his colleagues. If you read the literature on proteinoids instead of relying on your personal limited experience you would find that proteinoids have been created under a variety of conditions, including the presence of contaminants like sugars, and with different concentrations of amino acids. As I've already mentioned, there is good evidence to say that proteinoids can occur under a range of conditions. Besides, aspartic and glutamic acid are two of the easiest amino acids to make abiotically; I do not doubt that they would be present in high concentrations.
"It is wonderful that you have faith to think that is possible. But then maybe you have been in the lab so long you think all of those jars of chemicals that surround you that you would need in order to make this reaction happen, are what the world is like out there!"
I have to agree with Pim on this on; statements like this are unworthy of a person of your standing. Besides, there is nothing of scientific substance to comment on.
"Even a pinch of sugar will tar the reaction."
In your limited experience in Fox's lab, perhaps, but not in the overall experience of Fox or his colleagues. Again, read the literature.
"Try performing the reaction with only half of the mix as Glu+asp...try it with the ratio of the amino acids that results from 'prebiotic' experiments."
As I said before, these are probably serious objections only based on your limited experience. My reading of the literature suggests that they are not particularly serious at all.
"Try performing the reaction with a pinch of salt in the mixture."
I beg your pardon? You need salt to make the process work, and more than just "a pinch". You say you've done these experiments; didn't you know that?
"The experiments are so ridiculously easy to do, you should be able to report on the results by tomorrow. I will be listening."
Sorry, my regular work takes up the vast majority of time. Besides, my lab is not a protein chemistry lab, sorry to say. However, these kinds of experiments have already been done. Go to Entrez at the National Institutes of Health website at:
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Entrez/>
Select the "Literature - PubMed" option. In the search field type "proteinoids"; you'll get 31 documents covering the years 1995 to 1966. Some of them have abstracts; most do not, unfortunately. Even so, the titles alone will often indicate what kinds of experiments have been done. If you then get these articles and read them, plus articles listed in their bibliographies, you will discover just how variable the conditions can be for making proteinoids.
Kevin L. O'Brien