[6] The systematic study of pyrimidines began[7] in 1884 with Pinner,[8] who synthesized derivatives by condensing ethyl acetoacetate with amidines.

[9] The parent compound was first prepared by Gabriel and Colman in 1900,[10] [11] by conversion of barbituric acid to 2,4,6-trichloropyrimidine followed by reduction using zinc dust in hot water.

A more extensive discussion, including spectra, can be found in Brown et al.[12]: 242–244 Per the classification by Albert,[13]: 56–62  six-membered heterocycles can be described as π-deficient.

[16] Pyrimidine biosynthesis creates derivatives —like orotate, thymine, cytosine, and uracil— de novo from carbamoyl phosphate and aspartate.

As is often the case with parent heterocyclic ring systems, the synthesis of pyrimidine is not that common and is usually performed by removing functional groups from derivatives.

Nitration, nitrosation, azo coupling, halogenation, sulfonation, formylation, hydroxymethylation, and aminomethylation have been observed with substituted pyrimidines.

[12]: 17 Three nucleobases found in nucleic acids, cytosine (C), thymine (T), and uracil (U), are pyrimidine derivatives: In DNA and RNA, these bases form hydrogen bonds with their complementary purines.

[22] In March 2015, NASA Ames scientists reported that, for the first time, complex DNA and RNA organic compounds of life, including uracil, cytosine and thymine, have been formed in the laboratory under outer space conditions, using starting chemicals, such as pyrimidine, found in meteorites.

Pyrimidine, like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the most carbon-rich chemical found in the universe, may have been formed in red giants or in interstellar dust and gas clouds.

RNA is composed of pyrimidine and purine nucleotides, both of which are necessary for reliable information transfer, and thus natural selection and Darwinian evolution.

Becker et al. showed how pyrimidine nucleosides can be synthesized from small molecules and ribose, driven solely by wet-dry cycles.

5’-mono-and diphosphates also form selectively from phosphate-containing minerals, allowing concurrent formation of polyribonucleotides with both the pyrimidine and purine bases.

Thus a reaction network towards the pyrimidine and purine RNA building blocks can be established starting from simple atmospheric or volcanic molecules.