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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...

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...

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...

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...

Properties of Enantiomers and Optical Activity

Properties of Enantiomers and Optical Activity

It is essential to understand the difference between chiral and achiral interactions and the implications thereof in optical activity and their applications. Just as our feet, which are chiral, interact uniquely with chiral objects, such as a pair of shoes, but identically with achiral socks, enantiomers of a molecule exhibit different properties only when they interact with other chiral media. An example of a significant implication from this facet is the phenomenon known as optical activity,...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 10, 2025

A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality

A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality

Published on: March 11, 2022

Chirality-Induced Spin Selectivity: A Minimal Model.

Lorenzo Savi¹, Leonardo Celada^2,3, D K Andrea Phan Huu²

¹Department of Chemistry, Life Science and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma 43124, Italy.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

|August 26, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) is a phenomenon where electron spin is selected by chiral molecules. This study simulates CISS in molecular systems, finding amplification in non-half-filled systems and new pathways via vibrations.

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Last Updated: Sep 10, 2025

A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality

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Experimental Methods for Spin- and Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy Combined with Polarization-Variable Laser

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Coulomb Explosion Imaging as a Tool to Distinguish Between Stereoisomers

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Published on: August 18, 2017

Area of Science:

Quantum mechanics
Condensed matter physics
Molecular systems

Background:

Chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) is a poorly understood quantum mechanical phenomenon.
CISS describes the spin selectivity observed when electrons traverse chiral environments.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate Chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) in molecular systems using a novel simulation approach.
To explore the role of electron correlation and molecular vibrations in CISS.

Main Methods:

A current-constrained approach was used to simulate electron transport through a linear Hubbard chain of twisted p orbitals.
The model incorporates correlated electrons coupled to nonadiabatic molecular vibrations.

Main Results:

Sizable CISS responses were observed within specific parameter ranges.
A clear amplification of CISS was found in non-half-filled systems.
Peierls vibrations, particularly out-of-equilibrium stretching modes, were shown to induce finite polarization.

Conclusions:

The proposed simulation method effectively models CISS in chiral molecular systems.
Electron correlation and molecular vibrations significantly influence CISS.
Vibrational modes can induce CISS even in systems lacking specific interactions.