Hydrotalcites of high aluminum content have been synthesized from aluminate liquors of varying composition and activated magnesia obtained by calcination of hydroxide or hydroxycarbonate precursors. Lattice parameter measurements and chemical analyses of 21 synthetic hydrotalcites show that the aluminum substitution $$\left( {\rm{X = \frac{{Al}}{{Al + Mg}}}} \right)$$ for most of the products is about 0.35, which is at the maximum experimentally-observed limit of solid solubility. Pillared hydrotalcites were also prepared by molybdate, Chromate, and silicate anion replacement. A maximum distance of 10.4 Å between the brucite-like layers was observed for the Mo7O246− intercalated material.

The adsorption of organic molecules on mineral matrices might have played a fundamental role in processes that led to the emergence of life. We investigated the adsorption properties of the nucleobases adenine, cytosine, uracil and hypoxanthine on magnesium oxide (MgO), determining the single solute batch equilibrium adsorption isotherms. Langmuir-type isotherms were fitted to data, assuming a rapid reversible equilibration of adsorption, demonstrated effectively through desorption experiments. The Langmuir equilibrium adsorption constant K and the amount of the solute per unit of adsorbent mass necessary to complete the monolayer b were calculated. The results indicate that MgO is a good adsorbent for nucleobases (adenine > uracil > hypoxantine > cytosine), suggesting a role of metal oxides in concentrating biomolecules in prebiotic conditions that might have favoured the passage from geochemistry to biochemistry.

Dense, polycrystalline MgO was infiltrated with monticellite (CaMgSiO4) liquid to study the penetration of liquid along the grain boundaries of MgO. Grain growth was found to be restricted with increasing amounts of liquid. The inter-granular regions were generally found to be comprised of a two-phase mixture: crystalline monticellite and a glassy phase rich in the impurities present in the starting MgO material. MgO grains act as seeding agents for the crystallization of monticellite. The location and composition of the glassy phase with respect to the MgO grains emphasizes the role of intergranular liquid during the devitrification process in “snowplowing” impurities present in the matrix.