The effect of clays on the oligomerization of HCN

The reaction of 0.1 M HCN and dilute solutions of diaminomaleonitrile (DAMN) at pH 8--9 and 25 degrees C in the presence of suspensions of montmorillonite (bentonite) clays were investigated. Montmorillonite clays inhibit the oligomerization of aqueous solutions of HCN. Yields of colored oligomers, ura, and DAMN, are all diminished by clays, but the rate of loss of cyanide is not significantly decreased. The inhibition of oligomer formation is due to the clay-catalyzed decomposition of DAMN. The absence of strong binding of DAMN to clays was suggested by our failure to detect DAMN when a clay that had been incubated with DAMN was washed with spermidine (6 x 10(-3) g/liter). It was established that DAMN does not simply bind to the clays by the observation that the bulk of the radioactivity was recovered from the supernatant in the reaction of 14C-DAMN with montmorillonite. The clay-catalyzed decomposition of DAMN was observed when montmorillonite from two different sources was used and with a variety of homoinic montmorillonites and bentonites. A modification of the established procedure for using the cyanide electrode for cyanide analyses was used to follow the release of HCN from DAMN. This new method can be used in both the acidic and basic pH range and it does not result in the destruction of DAMN by the reagents used for the analysis. Quantitative analyses of the reaction solution from the clay-catalyzed decomposition of DAMN revealed the formation of 1--2 equivalents of HCN per mole of DAMN. The possible significance of these clay-catalyzed reactions in chemical evolution is discussed.