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Chirality is the most intriguing yet essential facet of nature, governing life’s biochemical processes and precision. It can be observed from a snail shell pattern in a macroscopic world to an amino acid, the minutest building block of life. Most of the snails around the world have right-coiled shells because of the intrinsic chirality in their genes. All the amino acids present in the human body exist in an enantiomerically pure state, except for glycine - the sole achiral amino acid.
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Chirality is a term that describes the lack of mirror symmetry in an object. In other words, chiral objects cannot be superposed on their mirror images. For example, our feet are chiral, as the mirror image of the left foot, the right foot, cannot be superposed on the left foot.
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Molecules that possess multiple chiral centers can afford a large number of stereoisomers. For instance, while some molecules like 2-butanol have one chiral center, defined as a tetrahedral carbon atom with four different substituents attached, several molecules like butane-2,3-diol have multiple chiral centers. A simple formula to predict the number of stereoisomers possible for a molecule with n chiral centers is 2n. However, there can be a lower number where some of the stereoisomers are...
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The concept of prochirality leads to the nomenclature of the individual faces of a molecule and plays a crucial role in the enantioselective reaction. It is a concept where two or more achiral molecules react to produce chiral products. A typical process is the reaction of an achiral ketone to generate a chiral alcohol. Here, the achiral reactant reacts with an achiral reducing agent, sodium borohydride, to generate an equimolar mixture of the chiral enantiomers of the product. For example, an...
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A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality
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Molecular model for chirality phenomena.

Folarin Latinwo1, Frank H Stillinger2, Pablo G Debenedetti1

  • 1Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.

The Journal of Chemical Physics
|October 27, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study introduces a new 3D model for simulating molecular chirality in condensed phases. The model captures chiral switching and interactions, enabling exploration of phenomena like symmetry breaking and phase separation.

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Area of Science:

  • Chemical Physics
  • Molecular Biology
  • Condensed Matter Physics

Background:

  • Chirality is fundamental to molecular recognition in biological and chemical systems.
  • Understanding chiral phenomena in condensed phases requires advanced simulation models.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and present a novel three-dimensional continuum model for studying chirality in condensed phases.
  • To investigate chirality-specific phenomena including kinetics, symmetry breaking, and phase separation.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized molecular simulations with a four-site molecule model.
  • Incorporated non-trivial kinetic behavior: chiral switching and racemization.
  • Introduced a chiral renormalization parameter to favor homochiral or heterochiral configurations.

Main Results:

  • Explored the kinetics of chiral inversion and racemization.
  • Investigated spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in liquid phases.
  • Observed chirally driven liquid-liquid phase separation.
  • Modeled chiral crystal structures.

Conclusions:

  • The developed model provides a versatile platform for studying complex chiral phenomena.
  • The findings offer insights into molecular recognition, self-assembly, and material properties influenced by chirality.