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Chirality in Nature

Chirality in Nature

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.

Chirality

Chirality

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.
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...

Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur

Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur

Chirality is most prevalent in carbon-based tetrahedral compounds, but this important facet of molecular symmetry extends to sp3-hybridized nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur centers, including trivalent molecules with lone pairs. Here, the lone pair behaves as a functional group in addition to the other three substituents to form an analogous tetrahedral center that can be chiral.
A consequence of chirality is the need for enantiomeric resolution. While this is theoretically possible for all...

Prochirality

Prochirality

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...

Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers

Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers

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...

Regioselectivity and Stereochemistry of Hydroboration

Regioselectivity and Stereochemistry of Hydroboration

A significant aspect of hydroboration–oxidation is the regio- and stereochemical outcome of the reaction.
Hydroboration proceeds in a concerted fashion with the attack of borane on the π bond, giving a cyclic four-centered transition state. The –BH2 group is bonded to the less substituted carbon and –H to the more substituted carbon. The concerted nature requires the simultaneous addition of –H and –BH2 across the same face of the alkene giving syn...

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Updated: May 10, 2025

Phase Behavior of Charged Vesicles Under Symmetric and Asymmetric Solution Conditions Monitored with Fluorescence Microscopy

Phase Behavior of Charged Vesicles Under Symmetric and Asymmetric Solution Conditions Monitored with Fluorescence Microscopy

Published on: October 24, 2017

Bubble phase induced by odd interactions in chiral systems.

Lorenzo Caprini¹, U Marini Bettolo Marconi²

¹Physics Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, Rome, Italy.

The Journal of Chemical Physics

|April 22, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Odd interactions in chiral particle systems drive a phase transition, forming bubbles without attractions. This emergent phenomenon results from competing pressures and can be observed in granular experiments.

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Area of Science:

Physics
Complex Systems
Non-equilibrium Statistical Mechanics

Background:

Chiral particle systems exhibit unique behaviors due to inherent asymmetry.
Odd interactions introduce novel dynamics not present in standard repulsive systems.
Non-equilibrium systems offer insights into emergent phenomena and phase transitions.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the impact of combined odd and repulsive interactions on chiral particle systems.
To identify and characterize non-equilibrium phase transitions induced by these interactions.
To explore the emergence of novel structures like bubbles and their underlying mechanisms.

Main Methods:

Theoretical modeling of a chiral particle system with both odd and repulsive interactions.
Analysis of the interplay between inertia, oddness, and particle repulsion.
Identification of phase transition signatures such as bubble formation, vortex structures, and velocity correlations.

Main Results:

A non-equilibrium phase transition from a homogeneous to a non-homogeneous (bubble) phase was induced by odd interactions.
Bubble formation arises from a balance between repulsive pressure and an effective surface expansion force (centrifugal).
Vortex structures and oscillating spatial velocity correlations were observed as signatures of the phase transition.

Conclusions:

Odd interactions are capable of driving significant phase transitions in chiral particle systems, leading to emergent structures.
The observed bubble formation is a novel phenomenon driven by competing forces in the absence of attractions.
Findings have implications for granular experiments and understanding metamaterial properties.