Homochirality and chemical evolution: new vistas and reflections on recent models

This report revises and scrutinizes recent arguments, theories, and hypotheses related to the emergence of homochirality. Since the whole treatment would involve multiple and varied scenarios, emphasis is put only on some processes, believed (or claimed) to be prebiotically credible. A particular purpose is to introduce less-travelled paths in which enantioenrichment does not emerge from amplification mechanisms. Some food for thought is provided in an attempt to reduce the gap between existing abiotic hypotheses and the more elusive and conjecturable biotic proposals. A series of novel models have been suggested to reconcile and incorporate chirogenesis into chemical evolution fueled by prebiotic building blocks. All in all, we want to offer new vistas into a never-ending pursuit in the hope that the present considerations will elicit further stimulus, analysis, and experiments in various domains. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.