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Updated: Jun 24, 2026

Solid-phase Submonomer Synthesis of Peptoid Polymers and their Self-Assembly into Highly-Ordered Nanosheets
Published on: November 2, 2011
Toward homochiral protocells in noncatalytic peptide systems
Marcelo Gleiser1, Sara Imari Walker
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. gleiserm@gmail.com
Abstract:
The activation-polymerization-epimerization-depolymerization (APED) model of Plasson et al. has recently been proposed as a mechanism for the evolution of homochirality on prebiotic Earth. The dynamics of the APED model in two-dimensional spatially-extended systems is investigated for various realistic reaction parameters. It is found that the APED system allows for the formation of isolated homochiral proto-domains surrounded by a racemate. A diffusive slowdown of the APED network induced, for example, through tidal motion or evaporating pools and lagoons leads to the stabilization of homochiral bounded structures as expected in the first self-assembled protocells.
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