No abstract

Asymmetric amplification induced in the Soai autocatalytic reaction by chiral initiators that are enantiomeric only by virtue of an isotope, e.g., −CH3 vs CD3–, is examined by spectroscopic, kinetic, and DFT modeling studies to help understand requirements for the emergence of biological homochirality. We find that the initiator inhibits the autocatalytic pathway at the outset of the reaction but ultimately provides the imbalance required for asymmetric amplification. This work provides clues in the ongoing search for prebiotically plausible versions of asymmetric autocatalysis.

Rapid reaction screening in flow systems may help to reduce the time and material required to optimize, scale-up, and implement a flow process. Compartmentalization using small fluorous plugs has been implemented in several commercial reactors as a means for running a large number of isolated reactions in series within a flow reactor. Dye tracking, visual mixing, and reactivity studies are used to better understand the factors controlling dispersion within a commercial reactor. The role of dispersion on reactivity is elucidated using model reactions, and an optimized method for performing high-throughput screening is proposed.

We have determined the energy required for symmetry breaking and chiral amplification in the Soai autocatalytic reaction. This work examines the likelihood that parity violation energy difference of enantiomers is implicated in the origin of chiral symmetry breaking and highlights the challenges inherent in a search for a prebiotically plausible version of Soai autocatalysis.

Mechanistic studies of the Soai autocatalytic reaction in the context of biological homochirality.