Sodium chloride enhanced oligomerization of L-glutamic acid in aqueous solution.

The presence of NaCl was found to significantly enhance the formation of longer peptides in N,N'-carbonyldiimidazole induced oligomerization of L-glutamic acid in homogeneous aqueous solution. The enhancement was detected in the presence of as low as 0.01-M NaCl and the highest yield of longer oligomers was achieved in the presence of 1-M NaCl. The possible prebiotic relevance is discussed.