A kinetic model of spontaneous amplification of enantiomeric excess in the autocatalytic addition of diisopropylzinc to prochiral pyrimidine carbaldehydes is extended by a negative feedback process. Simulations based on the extended model result in large-amplitude oscillations both in a continuous-flow stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and in a semibatch configuration under optimized initial conditions. When sustained oscillations are maintained in a CSTR, no enantiomeric product distribution could be observed in the calculated series; the system keeps its initial enantiomeric ratio endlessly. During damped oscillations, or steady-state conditions, however, chiral amplification from a very small initial enantiomeric excess to more than 99% occurs in a semibatch configuration. Calculations indicated spontaneous enantiomeric product enrichment (i.e., accumulation of one of the enantiomers at the cost of the other one) from strictly achiral starting conditions in a semibatch configuration due to the inherent numerical error of the integrator method, which can be regarded as a model of the statistical fluctuation in the numbers of enantiomeric molecules.

Enantiomeric excesses obtained in absolute enantioselective synthesis by chiral autocatalysis (Soai-reaction) were statistically analyzed. Two sets of parallel experiments, which were performed under chemically different conditions, are available. One group contains 37, while the other contains 84 preparative results. The former group shows some interesting tendencies but does not give conclusive statistical results. The sample of 84 parallel experiments, providing 39 R- and 45 S-excesses have shown that these data represent two distinct, non-symmetric sets with different non-Gaussian distributions. Clear S preference was found.

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