Chemistry Letters, Vol.30, No.4, 324-325, 2001
Efficient and homochiral selective oligomerization of racemic ribonucleotides on mineral surface
We have found that activated racemic mononucleotides oligomerize with comparable efficiency to chiral D-monomers on Na+-montmorillonite, and that the reaction proceeds in a homochiral selective manner to preferentially give optically homogeneous D- and L-oligomers. Mineral surfaces might play important roles in an early stage of chemical evolution of RNAs.