[2] Diaminomaleonitrile was first isolated in 1873 as a black solid, when it was recognized as a polymer of hydrogen cyanide with the formula (HCN)x.

[4] The cis-configuration of the amino groups was shown in 1928 through reaction with glyoxal to give 2,3-diaminopyrazine, and the full structure was shown in 1955 to be diaminomaleonitrile, as opposed to the isomeric aminoiminosuccinonitrile (AISN).

[6][7] Diaminomaleonitrile has been proposed since the 1960s as a key substance for the prebiotic synthesis of nucleobases.

Photochemical rearrangement of DAMN under UV light gives 4-aminoimidazole-5-carbonitrile (AICN), which can react further to form various nucleobases.

[10][11] Due to the ubiquity of hydrogen cyanide and its oligomers in space, it has been proposed that the dark material found in comets may consist of diaminomaleonitrile and higher oligomers, and that such polymers of HCN may have covered the surface of the early Earth.