It was as if I heard an "achew!" When I saw this article's heading my interest was piqued, so I read it and this, this, and this (incomplete). My conclusion: more hype over theory that 1) hasn't withstood scrutiny yet, and 2) misses the point-- it's not so much the chemical compounds that are the issue (they are a very big issue), but the massive information coded by them and the apparatus for replicating it.
Of course, this says nothing about why such processes are not observed to be happening in the life friendly environment of nature today. Having to have a controlled environment, prepared and maintained by intelligent people in white coats, to demonstrate a possibility always puts the proponents of chance in a quandary.
I'm sure bright, informed minds familiar with prebiotic chemistry will weigh in with further study and analysis in the coming weeks, but in the mean time, I wouldn't let the headline get me either too nervous or giddy. I suspect that soon, scientists will develop the antiprebiotic for this particular strain of evolutionary flu. Guzunheit!
