Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
Volume 10, Issue 3, Pages 746-760Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/ijms10030746
Keywords
Peptide bond formation; peptide hydrolysis; catalysis; mineral surfaces; theoretical calculations; prebiotic chemistry
Funding
- Italian Ministry MIUR [Prot. 2006032335_005]
- Regione Piemonte (Bando ricerca scientifica Piemonte 2004, Settore: Nanotecnologie e nanoscienze)
- Spanish MCYT [CTQ2005-08797-C02-02/BQU]
- Catalan DURSI [SGR2005-00244]
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The condensation (polymerization by water elimination) of molecular building blocks to yield the first active biopolymers (e. g. of amino acids to form peptides) during primitive Earth is an intriguing question that nowadays still remains open since these processes are thermodynamically disfavoured in highly dilute water solutions. In the present contribution, formation and hydrolysis of glycine oligopeptides occurring on a cluster model of sanidine feldspar (001) surface have been simulated by quantum mechanical methods. Results indicate that the catalytic interplay between Lewis and Bronsted sites both present at the sanidine surface, in cooperation with the London forces acting between the biomolecules and the inorganic surface, plays a crucial role to: i) favour the condensation of glycine to yield oligopeptides as reaction products; ii) inhibit the hydrolysis of the newly formed oligopeptides. Both facts suggest that mineral surfaces may have helped in catalyzing, stabilizing and protecting from hydration the oligopeptides formed in the prebiotic era.
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