The role of metal ions in chemical evolution: Polymerization of alanine and glycine in a cation-exchanged clay environment
- 1 December 1979
- journal article
- Published by Springer Nature in Journal of Molecular Evolution
- Vol. 13 (4) , 281-286
- https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01731368
Abstract
The effect of the exchangeable cation on the condensation of glycine and alanine was investigated using a series of homoionic bentonites. A cycling procedure of drying, warming and wetting was employed. Peptide bond formation was observed, and the effectiveness of metal ions to catalyze the condensation was Cu2+ > Ni2+ ≈ Zn2+ > Na+. Glycine showed 6% of the monomer incorporated into oligomers with the largest detected being the pentamer. Alanine showed less peptide bond formation (a maximum of 2%) and only the dimer was observed.Keywords
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