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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Communications Chemistry

Metal ions affect abiotic sugar oligomerization reactions

  • Daniil Akulenko1
  • Rotem Edri1
  • Moran Frenkel-Pinter1,2,3
  1. 1Institute of Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
  2. 2The Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
  3. 3Casali Center of Applied Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
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Abstract

Numerous long-standing questions in origins-of-life research center on the origin of today’s biopolymers. The dependence of biochemistry on metals appears to be ancient and rooted in chemical evolution. While the effect of metal ions on the abiotic polymerization of peptides and nucleic acids has been investigated, their effect on sugar oligomerization reactions has not been established. Here, we have performed drying reactions of glucose as a model saccharide in the presence or absence of various metal ions and characterized the resulting products using a variety of analytical techniques. We found that while metal ions typically inhibited the overall conversion of glucose into oligomers, some ions led to an apparent shift in oligomeric distribution, in a metal-specific manner. Our results are suggestive of metal-sugar co-evolution during the early stages of prebiotic evolution.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{akulenko2026metal,
  title = {{Metal ions affect abiotic sugar oligomerization reactions}},
  author = {Daniil Akulenko and Rotem Edri and Moran Frenkel-Pinter},
  journal = {Communications Chemistry},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  doi = {10.1038/s42004-026-02129-w},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-026-02129-w},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Metal ions affect abiotic sugar oligomerization reactions
AU  - Daniil Akulenko
AU  - Rotem Edri
AU  - Moran Frenkel-Pinter
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/13
JO  - Communications Chemistry
DO  - 10.1038/s42004-026-02129-w
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-026-02129-w
AB  - Numerous long-standing questions in origins-of-life research center on the origin of today’s biopolymers. The dependence of biochemistry on metals appears to be ancient and rooted in chemical evolution. While the effect of metal ions on the abiotic polymerization of peptides and nucleic acids has been investigated, their effect on sugar oligomerization reactions has not been established. Here, we have performed drying reactions of glucose as a model saccharide in the presence or absence of various metal ions and characterized the resulting products using a variety of analytical techniques. We found that while metal ions typically inhibited the overall conversion of glucose into oligomers, some ions led to an apparent shift in oligomeric distribution, in a metal-specific manner. Our results are suggestive of metal-sugar co-evolution during the early stages of prebiotic evolution.
SN  - 2399-3669
ER  -