Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 1, 2026

A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality
Published on: March 11, 2022
Generation of molecular chiral asymmetry through stirred crystallization
Daniel J Durand1, Dilip K Kondepudi, Paulo F Moreira
1Department of Chemistry, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27109, USA.
Abstract:
In our earlier work we established that stirred crystallization of achiral compounds that crystallize in enantiomeric forms result in spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking. The asymmetry thus spontaneously generated is confined to the solid state. In this article, we present a case in which the crystal enantiomeric excess (CEE) can be converted to molecular enantiomeric excess (EE) through a solid state reaction which relates the enantiomeric form of the crystal to the enantiomeric form of the product. Such a process not only provides a means of detecting the CEE generated in stirred crystallization but it is also a means through which chiral asymmetry generated spontaneously is "propagated" to generate chiral compounds with enantiomeric excess.
Related Concept Videos
Chirality
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
Prochirality
Chirality in Nature
Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers
Stereoisomerism of Cyclic Compounds
Crystal Growth: Principles of Crystallization
Initiating crystallization involves manipulating the concentration of the solute and the temperature of the solution. Since crystal growth occurs when the ratio of concentration and solubility of the solute in the solvent – the...

