Journal
CHIRALITY
Volume 24, Issue 11, Pages 894-908Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/chir.22028
Keywords
cosmic asymmetry; physical homochirality; phase transitions; attrition-enhanced deracemization; crystallization; sublimation; environmental conditions
Funding
- Ministry of Science and Innovation [CGL2009-10764, CTQ2010-18938, CTQ2010-17339]
- Junta de Extremadura-Ayuda a Grupos Consolidados [GR10049]
- EU COST Action [CM0703/WG4]
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Mirror symmetry breaking is ubiquitous in our visible universe taking place in elementary particles, atoms, and molecules. Molecular chirality is not biogenic in itself, although its detection is often considered a biosignature, a conjecture inferred from the fact that we do not know life devoid of homochirality. The question of whether there is a connection between the cosmic preference for one enantiomer, as imposed by the weak force, and the single chirality displayed on Earth is vividly debated. This article gives a glimpse on the origin of asymmetry from a cosmological perspective and on physical transformations that lead to an enantiomeric imbalance, leaving chemical reactions essentially aside. These processes are more plausible as sources of prebiotic chirality than asymmetric amplifications requiring unnatural substrates and conditions and fighting against racemization. The latter may actually be a friend, not foe, and a driving force for enantioselection. Chirality 24:894908, 2012. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc
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