Stochastic fluctuations and chiral symmetry breaking: exact solution of Lente model

The stochastic description for the autocatalytic process has been proposed by Lente (J. Phys. Chem. A 2004, 108, 9475) to demonstrate chiral symmetry breaking. He assumed that the number of reacting molecules is macroscopic and that no products are present initially. The Lente model consisting of a finite number of molecules that may include the product molecules as chiral seeds is explored and the characteristics of stochastic distributions of the product are examined. It is shown that the presence of racemic product in the substrate reduces the possibility of chiral symmetry breaking while a few more molecules of a specific enantiomer added can yield chiral dominance for strong autocatalysis. Besides, small reactive volumes or dense reactant concentrations have a preference for chiral symmetric breaking.