The natural selection of ribose as the exclusive sugar for RNA has been one of the greatest puzzles in the origins of life. Here, we present a plausible solution to this problem that circumvents the limitations of previous hypotheses, inspired by the unique retention properties of ribose in ligand-exchange chromatography. It is discovered that metal cations and clay minerals have a synergistic effect to selectively bind to ribose against other monosaccharides. Excitingly, ribose can be continuously and highly selectively enriched on metal-doped-clays (MDCs) from a complex Formose mixture, which could be the origin of its rise to prominence. Prebiotic scenarios of the dynamic isolation of ribose from sugar mixture are simulated with microflow technology. The MDC-retained ribose exhibits long-term stability for the upcoming nucleosidation reactions. Computational studies help elucidate the unique stability of the ribose-MDC complex. MDC also promotes the 5′-phosphorylation of nucleosides with greater yield and selectivity than reported.

自然选择核糖作为 RNA 的唯一糖分一直是生命起源中最大的谜团之一。在这里，我们提出了这个问题的合理解决方案，它规避了先前假设的局限性，灵感来自核糖在配体交换色谱中的独特保留特性。发现金属阳离子和粘土矿物具有协同作用，可以选择性地与核糖结合，对抗其他单糖。令人兴奋的是，核糖可以从复杂的 Formose 混合物中连续和高度选择性地富集在金属掺杂粘土 (MDC) 上，这可能是其崛起的原因。使用微流技术模拟从糖混合物中动态分离核糖的益生元情景。MDC 保留的核糖对即将发生的核苷化反应表现出长期稳定性。计算研究有助于阐明核糖-MDC 复合物的独特稳定性。MDC 还以比报道的更高的产率和选择性促进核苷的 5'-磷酸化。