Adsorption of small biological molecules on silica from diluted aqueous solutions: quantitative characterization and implications to the Bernal's hypothesis.

To describe quantitatively the adsorption of prebiotically important compounds of low molecular weight (amino acids, short linear peptides, cyclic dipeptides, the Krebs's cycle and other carboxylic acids, nucleosides and related phosphates) on silica surface from diluted neutral aqueous solutions, equilibrium constants (K) and free energies (-delta G) of adsorption were determined from the retention values measured by means of high-performance liquid chromatography on a silica gel column and from the isotherms measured under static conditions. For most carboxylic acids (including amino acids and linear peptides) -delta G values were negative and K < 1, thus showing very weak adsorption. Cyclic dipeptides (2,5-piperazinediones) exhibited higher adsorbability; -delta G > 0 and K > 1 were found for most of them. Influence of the structure of alpha-substituent on the adsorbability is analyzed. A linear dependence of -delta G on the number of aliphatic carbon atoms in a sorbate molecule was found for the series of aliphatic bifunctional amino acids, related dipeptides and 2,5-piperazinediones, as well as for the row from glycine to triglycyl glycine. The adsorption of nucleosides and their phosphates is characterized by much higher K and -delta G values (of the order of 10(2) and 10(4), respectively). The adsorption data available from our work and literature are summarized and discussed with implications to the Bernal's hypothesis on the roles of solid surfaces in the prebiotic formation of biopolymers from monomeric 'building blocks'.