Biogeosciences www.biogeosciences.net 1726-4170 1726-4189 3 3 2006 10.5194/bg-3-243-2006 http://www.biogeosciences.net/3/243/2006/ http://www.biogeosciences.net/3/243/2006/bg-3-243-2006.html http://www.biogeosciences.net/3/243/2006/bg-3-243-2006.pdf 243 249 2006-06-20 The nonenzymatic template-directed ligation of oligonucleotides A. V. Lutay lutay_av@niboch.nsc.ru E. L. Chernolovskaya M. A. Zenkova V. V. Vlassov Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine SB RAS, Lavrentiev Avenue 8, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia The nonenzymatic template-directed ligation of oligonucleotides containing 2', 3'-cyclic phosphate was investigated in the presence of divalent cations. Ligation of the oligonucleotides readily occurred in the presence of Mg²⁺, Mn²⁺, Co²⁺, Zn²⁺, Pb²⁺. Efficacy of the metal ion catalysts inversely correlated with pKa values of the metal-bound water molecules. The intermolecular transesterification reaction yielded at least 95metal ion. 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