Selective Chiral Symmetry Breaking during Crystallization: Parity Violation or Cryptochiral Environment in Control?

We have attempted to check experimentally whether the parity violating energy difference (PVED) between enantiomers is ultimately responsible for any bias in the final homochirality of crystals, after suitable autocatalytic amplification. When two equivalent (50-50) chiral populations of L- and D-cr...

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Author: Viedma Molero, Cristóbal
Format: Article
Publication date:2007
Country:España
Institution:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repository:Docta Complutense
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/52804
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/52804
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:548.5
Crystallization
Parity
Cryptochiral
Cristalografía (Geología)
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author Viedma Molero, Cristóbal
author_browse Viedma Molero, Cristóbal
author_facet Viedma Molero, Cristóbal
author_role author
collection Docta Complutense
description We have attempted to check experimentally whether the parity violating energy difference (PVED) between enantiomers is ultimately responsible for any bias in the final homochirality of crystals, after suitable autocatalytic amplification. When two equivalent (50-50) chiral populations of L- and D-crystals (of either NaClO3 or NaBrO3) generated independently are mixed and undergo dissolution-crystallization, one of the chiral populations disappears randomly in an irreversible autocatalytic competition process that nurtures the other population. If enough experiments are carried out with this 50-50 mixture of chiral crystals, a random distribution of solutions with final L- or D- crystals is obtained in total. However, when the two populations of L- and D-crystals are generated together in the same solution and undergo a dissolution-crystallization process, a nonrandom distribution of the final handedness among different homochiral solutions is obtained. This selective symmetry breaking is sporadic although always in the same direction; thus, we discard any explanation based on PVED effects. We conclude that the result represents an experimental demonstration of selective chiral symmetry breaking on a macrocopic level brought about by cryptochiral environmental impurity.
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institution Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
instname_str Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
language eng
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
oai_identifier_str oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/52804
publishDate 2007
publishDateSort 2007
publisher American Chemical Society
publisherStr American Chemical Society
reponame_str Docta Complutense
spelling Selective Chiral Symmetry Breaking during Crystallization: Parity Violation or Cryptochiral Environment in Control? Viedma Molero, Cristóbal 548.5 Crystallization Parity Cryptochiral Cristalografía (Geología) We have attempted to check experimentally whether the parity violating energy difference (PVED) between enantiomers is ultimately responsible for any bias in the final homochirality of crystals, after suitable autocatalytic amplification. When two equivalent (50-50) chiral populations of L- and D-crystals (of either NaClO3 or NaBrO3) generated independently are mixed and undergo dissolution-crystallization, one of the chiral populations disappears randomly in an irreversible autocatalytic competition process that nurtures the other population. If enough experiments are carried out with this 50-50 mixture of chiral crystals, a random distribution of solutions with final L- or D- crystals is obtained in total. However, when the two populations of L- and D-crystals are generated together in the same solution and undergo a dissolution-crystallization process, a nonrandom distribution of the final handedness among different homochiral solutions is obtained. This selective symmetry breaking is sporadic although always in the same direction; thus, we discard any explanation based on PVED effects. We conclude that the result represents an experimental demonstration of selective chiral symmetry breaking on a macrocopic level brought about by cryptochiral environmental impurity. American Chemical Society https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/52804
spellingShingle Selective Chiral Symmetry Breaking during Crystallization: Parity Violation or Cryptochiral Environment in Control?
Viedma Molero, Cristóbal
548.5
Crystallization
Parity
Cryptochiral
Cristalografía (Geología)
title Selective Chiral Symmetry Breaking during Crystallization: Parity Violation or Cryptochiral Environment in Control?
title_full Selective Chiral Symmetry Breaking during Crystallization: Parity Violation or Cryptochiral Environment in Control?
title_fullStr Selective Chiral Symmetry Breaking during Crystallization: Parity Violation or Cryptochiral Environment in Control?
title_full_unstemmed Selective Chiral Symmetry Breaking during Crystallization: Parity Violation or Cryptochiral Environment in Control?
title_short Selective Chiral Symmetry Breaking during Crystallization: Parity Violation or Cryptochiral Environment in Control?
title_sort Selective Chiral Symmetry Breaking during Crystallization: Parity Violation or Cryptochiral Environment in Control?
topic 548.5
Crystallization
Parity
Cryptochiral
Cristalografía (Geología)
topic_facet 548.5
Crystallization
Parity
Cryptochiral
Cristalografía (Geología)
url https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/52804