Differential interactions of beta particles with liquid enantiomers and internal timing of chiral molecules

The Cerenkov and liquid scintillation technique was applied to detect differential interactions between beta particles and chiral molecules. The highly helical beta emitting 32P and the barely helical beta emitting 3H were dissolved in the liquid enantiomers of 2-phenylbutyric acid. The interactions of the beta particles with the enantiomers were compared. Differential interactions were observed in case of 32P. The stopping power of R enantiomers was greater than that of the S enantiomer. The apparent decay of 32P was faster in the S enantiomer than in the R enantiomer. It is not clear whether this is due to some mistake in measurement or reflects the postulated difference of internal timing of the two enantiomers. Since, in spite of all efforts, contamination could not totally be excluded and data are significant only to one sigma, results must be considered preliminary. The method, however, seems to be more sensitive than all previously used methods. The differential effect was always in the same direction in at least 5 replicas.