Vortex flows impart chirality-specific lift forces
Open accessAbstract
Recent reports that macroscopic vortex flows can discriminate between chiral molecules or their assemblies sparked considerable scientific interest both for their implications to separations technologies and for their relevance to the origins of biological homochirality. However, these earlier results are inconclusive due to questions arising from instrumental artifacts and/or insufficient experimental control. After a decade of controversy, the question remains unresolved—how do vortex flows interact with different stereoisomers? Here, we implement a model experimental system to show that chiral objects in a Taylor–Couette cell experience a chirality-specific lift force. This force is directed parallel to the shear plane in contrast to previous studies in which helices, bacteria and chiral cubes experience chirality-specific forces perpendicular to the shear plane. We present a quantitative hydrodynamic model that explains how chirality-specific motions arise in non-linear shear flows through the interplay between the shear-induced rotation of the particle and its orbital translation. The scaling laws derived here suggest that rotating flows can be used to achieve chiral separation at the micro- and nanoscales. The separation of enantiomers by flows holds promise in food and pharmaceutical industries, but the feasibility remains uncertain. Here, Hermans et al.separate macroscopic particles of opposite chirality at a liquid interface using shear flows, which provides insights into the mechanism at nanoscale.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The proposed chiral drift mechanism may in principle allow the separation of smaller chiral objects, with size in the order of tens of nanometres.
“The proposed chiral drift mechanism may in principle allow the separation of smaller chiral objects, with size in the order of tens of nanometres.”
From Possible chemical and physical scenarios towards biological homochirality (2022) · cites this paper as [160]
Grzybowski and co-workers showed that s-shaped mm-sized particles located at the oil/air interface parallel to the shear plane migrate to different positions in a Couette cell.
“Grzybowski and co-workers showed that s-shaped mm-sized particles located at the oil/air interface parallel to the shear plane migrate to different positions in a Couette cell.160”
From Possible chemical and physical scenarios towards biological homochirality (2022) · cites this paper as [160]
Cites
The motion of ellipsoidal particles immersed in a viscous fluid
Jeffery, G. B. (1922) · Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series A Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character · doi:10.1098/rspa.1922.0078 · Cited by 3,957 · see citing works
Brady, J. F., & Bossis, G. (1988) · Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics · doi:10.1146/annurev.fl.20.010188.000551 · Cited by 1,488 · see citing works
Microhydrodynamics: Principles and Selected Applications
Kim, S., & Karrila, S. (1991) · Cited by 1,289 · see citing works
Separation of enantiomers: needs, challenges, perspectives
Maier, N. M., Franco, P., & Lindner, W. F. (2001) · Journal of Chromatography A · doi:10.1016/s0021-9673(00)00532-x · Cited by 1,021 · see citing works
Considerations of chiral recognition relevant to the liquid chromatography separation of enantiomers
Pirkle, W. H., & Pochapsky, T. C. (1989) · Chemical Reviews · doi:10.1021/cr00092a006 · Cited by 880 · see citing works
Inertial migration of rigid spheres in two-dimensional unidirectional flows
Ho, B. P., & Leal, L. G. (1974) · Journal of Fluid Mechanics · doi:10.1017/s0022112074001431 · Cited by 817 · see citing works
Chiral Sign Induction by Vortices During the Formation of Mesophases in Stirred Solutions
Ribó, J. M., Crusats, J., Sagués, F., Claret, J., & Rubires, R. (2001) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1060835 · Cited by 710 · see citing works
Dynamic simulation of hydrodynamically interacting particles
Durlofsky, L. J., Brady, J. F., & Bossis, G. (1987) · Journal of Fluid Mechanics · doi:10.1017/s002211208700171x · Cited by 590 · see citing works
The Stokes resistance of an arbitrary particle
Brenner, H. (1963) · Chemical Engineering Science · doi:10.1016/0009-2509(63)80001-9 · Cited by 286 · see citing works
The Stokes resistance of an arbitrary particle—IV Arbitrary fields of flow
Brenner, H. (1964) · Chemical Engineering Science · doi:10.1016/0009-2509(64)85084-3 · Cited by 252 · see citing works
Macroscopic Origin of Circular Dichroism Effects by Alignment of Self‐Assembled Fibers in Solution
Wolffs, M., George, S. J., Tomović, Ž., Meskers, S. C. J., Schenning, A. P. H. J., & Meijer, E. W. (2007) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.200703075 · Cited by 238 · see citing works
The motion of ellipsoidal particles in a viscous fluid
Taylor, G. I. (1923) · Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series A Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character · doi:10.1098/rspa.1923.0040 · Cited by 233 · see citing works
The Stokes resistance of an arbitrary particle—II
Brenner, H. (1964) · Chemical Engineering Science · doi:10.1016/0009-2509(64)85051-x · Cited by 196 · see citing works
The Stokes resistance of an arbitrary particle—III
Brenner, H. (1964) · Chemical Engineering Science · doi:10.1016/0009-2509(64)85052-1 · Cited by 152 · see citing works
Rubires, R., Farrera, J., & Ribó, J. M. (2001) · Chemistry - A European Journal · doi:10.1002/1521-3765(20010119)7:2 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
Separation of Microscale Chiral Objects by Shear Flow
Marcos, Fu, H. C., Powers, T. R., & Stocker, R. (2009) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.102.158103 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Migration of twisted ribbon-like particles in simple shear flow
Makino, M., & Doi, M. (2005) · Physics of Fluids · doi:10.1063/1.2107867 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Hydrodynamic effects on chiral induction
Crusats, J., El‐Hachemi, Z., & Ribó, J. M. (2009) · Chemical Society Reviews · doi:10.1039/b916369g · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Dynamic Aggregation of Chiral Spinners
Grzybowski, B. A., & Whitesides, G. M. (2002) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1068130 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Self-citationChiral Separation in Microflows
Kostur, M., Schindler, M., Peter Talkner, A., & Peter Hänggi, A. (2006) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.96.014502 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Separation of chiral colloidal particles in a helical flow field
Aristov, M., Eichhorn, R., & Bechinger, C. (2013) · Soft Matter · doi:10.1039/c2sm27441h · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Mead, C. A., & Moscowitz, A. (1980) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/ja00544a024 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
The hydrodynamic resolution of optical isomers
Howard, D. W., Lightfoot, E. N., & Hirschfelder, J. O. (1976) · AIChE Journal · doi:10.1002/aic.690220425 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Separation of screw-sensed particles in a homogeneous shear field
Kim, Y.-J., & Rae, W. J. (1991) · International Journal of Multiphase Flow · doi:10.1016/0301-9322(91)90053-6 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Mechanical selection of chiral crystals
de Gennes, P. G. (1999) · Europhysics Letters (EPL) · doi:10.1209/epl/i1999-00339-6 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Lift forces of screws in shear flows
Chen, P., & Chao, C.-H. (2007) · Physics of Fluids · doi:10.1063/1.2428249 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Amabilino, D. B. (2007) · Nature Materials · doi:10.1038/nmat2064 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Shear Migration of Chiral Particle in Parallel-Disk
Makino, M., Arai, L., & Doi, M. (2008) · Journal of the Physical Society of Japan · doi:10.1143/jpsj.77.064404 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Shear-Induced Chiral Migration of Particles with Anisotropic Rigidity
Watari, N., & Larson, R. G. (2009) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.102.246001 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Enantioseparation in microfluidic channels
Eichhorn, R. (2010) · Chemical Physics · doi:10.1016/j.chemphys.2010.06.021 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Dynamical solutions for migration of chiral DNA-type objects in shear flows
Chen, P., & Zhang, Q. (2011) · Physical Review E · doi:10.1103/physreve.84.056309 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Mechanical resolution of chiral objects in achiral media: Where is the size limit?
Tencer, M., & Bielski, R. (2010) · Chirality · doi:10.1002/chir.20892 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 33 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Self-assembled inorganic chiral superstructures
Lv, J., Gao, X., Han, B. Q., Zhu, Y., Hou, K., & Tang, Z. (2022) · Nature Reviews Chemistry · doi:10.1038/s41570-021-00350-w · Cited by 269 · see citing works
Possible chemical and physical scenarios towards biological homochirality
Sallembien, Q., Bouteiller, L., Crassous, J., & Raynal, M. (2022) · Chemical Society Reviews · doi:10.1039/d1cs01179k · Cited by 186 · see citing works
High-speed particle rotation for coating oil removal by hydrocyclone
Huang, Y., Li, J., Zhang, Y., & Wang, H. (2016) · Separation and Purification Technology · doi:10.1016/j.seppur.2016.12.001 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Chiral Inorganic Nanomaterials for Photo(electro)catalytic Conversion
Fu, W., Tan, L., & Wang, P. (2023) · ACS Nano · doi:10.1021/acsnano.3c04337 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Induction of Chirality in a Metal–Organic Framework Built from Achiral Precursors
Wu, D., Zhou, K., Tian, J., Liu, C., Tian, J., Jiang, F., Yuan, D., Zhang, J., Chen, Q., & Hong, M. (2020) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.202013885 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Shape-directed dynamics of active colloids powered by induced-charge electrophoresis
Brooks, A. M., Sabrina, S., & Bishop, K. J. M. (2018) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1711610115 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Self-citationLiquid-liquid extraction intensification by micro-droplet rotation in a hydrocyclone
Huang, Y., Wang, H., Chen, Y., Zhang, Y., Yang, Q., Bai, Z., & Ma, L. (2017) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-017-02732-x · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Li, J., Du, M., Zhao, Z., & Liu, H. (2016) · Macromolecules · doi:10.1021/acs.macromol.5b02142 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Ribó, J. M., El‐Hachemi, Z., Arteaga, O., Canillas, A., & Crusats, J. (2017) · The Chemical Record · doi:10.1002/tcr.201600133 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Materials, assemblies and reaction systems under rotation
Grzybowski, B. A., Sobolev, Y. I., Cybulski, O., & Mikulak-Klucznik, B. (2022) · Nature Reviews Materials · doi:10.1038/s41578-021-00404-x · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Self-citationA molecular propeller effect for chiral separation and analysis
Clemens, J. B., Kibar, O., & Chachisvilis, M. (2015) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms8868 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Gao, Q., Tan, L., Wen, Z., Fan, D., Hui, J., & Wang, P. (2023) · Nano Research · doi:10.1007/s12274-023-5831-7 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Marichez, V., Tassoni, A., Cameron, R. P., Barnett, S. M., Eichhorn, R., Genet, C., & Hermans, T. M. (2019) · Soft Matter · doi:10.1039/c9sm00778d · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Self-citationOrbital angular momentum in optical manipulations
Li, M., Yan, S., Zhang, Y., Zhou, Y., & Yao, B. (2022) · Journal of Optics · doi:10.1088/2040-8986/ac9192 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Helicoidal particles and swimmers in a flow at low Reynolds number
Ishimoto, K. (2020) · Journal of Fluid Mechanics · doi:10.1017/jfm.2020.142 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
New Evidence about the Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking: Action of an Asymmetric Weak Heat Source
Mineo, P., Villari, V., Scamporrino, E., & Micali, N. L. (2015) · The Journal of Physical Chemistry B · doi:10.1021/acs.jpcb.5b07199 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Engineering Chirality of Transition Metal‐Based Nanomaterials for Enhanced Electrocatalysis
Xiao, C., Fu, W., Tan, L., & Wang, P. (2025) · Advanced Functional Materials · doi:10.1002/adfm.202508134 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Induction of Chirality in a Metal–Organic Framework Built from Achiral Precursors
Wu, D., Zhou, K., Tian, J., Liu, C., Tian, J., Jiang, F., Yuan, D., Zhang, J., Chen, Q., & Hong, M. (2020) · Angewandte Chemie · doi:10.1002/ange.202013885 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Recent progress of chiral metal–organic frameworks in enantioselective separation and detection
Chen, H., Xia, L., & Li, G. (2024) · Microchimica Acta · doi:10.1007/s00604-024-06729-y · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Chiral Separation by Flows: The Role of Flow Symmetry and Dimensionality
Ro, S., Yi, J., & Kim, Y. W. (2016) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep35144 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Jeffery orbits for an object with discrete rotational symmetry
Ishimoto, K. (2020) · Physics of Fluids · doi:10.1063/5.0015056 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Separation of Enantiomers through Local Vorticity: A Screw Model Mechanism
Duraes, A. D. S., & Gezelter, J. D. (2021) · The Journal of Physical Chemistry B · doi:10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c07127 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Chiral Inorganic Nanomaterials: Exploring New Horizons in Catalysis Through Symmetry Breaking
Fu, W., Tang, C. Y., & Wang, P. (2025) · Advanced Materials · doi:10.1002/adma.202515236 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Emergence and inversion of chirality in hierarchical assemblies of CdS nanocrystal fibers
Gonzalez, A. V., González, M., & Hanrath, T. (2023) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.adi5520 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Preferential sampling of helicity by isotropic helicoids
Gustavsson, K., & Biferale, L. (2016) · Physical Review Fluids · doi:10.1103/physrevfluids.1.054201 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Tumbling and Vorticity Drift of Flexible Helicoidal Polymers in Shear Flow
Li, R., Gompper, G., & Ripoll, M. (2021) · Macromolecules · doi:10.1021/acs.macromol.0c01651 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Controlled Functionalization of Reduced Graphene Oxide Enabled by Microfluidic Reactors
Silvestrini, S., Filippo, C. C. D., Vicentini, N., Menna, E., Mazzaro, R., Morandi, V., Ravotto, L., Ceroni, P., & Maggini, M. (2018) · Chemistry of Materials · doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b04740 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Macroscopic Vortex-Induced Optical Activity in Silver Nanowires
Kehoe, D. K., McCarthy, J. E., Gough, J. J., Bradley, A. L., & Gun’ko, Y. K. (2019) · The Journal of Physical Chemistry C · doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b02965 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Chiral Symmetry Breaking of Sodium Chlorate in a Taylor Vortex Flow
Zhang, B., Coquerel, G., Park, B. J., & Kim, W. (2024) · Crystal Growth & Design · doi:10.1021/acs.cgd.3c01074 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Chiral Lemniscate Formation in Magnetic Field Controlled Topological Fluid Flows
Jellicoe, M., Gardner, Z., Alotaibi, A. E. H., Shoemaker, K. E., Scott, J. M., Wang, S., Alotaibi, B. M., Luo, X., Chuah, C., Gibson, C. T., et al. (2025) · Small · doi:10.1002/smll.202409807 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Chromatography as an inspiration for microreactors
Hereijgers, J., Breugelmans, T., & Malsche, W. D. (2015) · Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology · doi:10.1002/jctb.4772 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Duraes, A. D. S., & Gezelter, J. D. (2023) · The Journal of Chemical Physics · doi:10.1063/5.0152546 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Sedimentation dynamics of triply twisted Möbius bands: Geometry versus topology
Moreno, N., Vázquez-Cortés, D., & Fried, E. (2024) · Physical Review Research · doi:10.1103/physrevresearch.6.033141 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Chirality‐specific lift forces of helix under shear flows: Helix perpendicular to shear plane
Zhang, Q. (2016) · Chirality · doi:10.1002/chir.22675 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Homochirogenesis and the Emergence of Lifelike Structures
Cintas, P. (2016) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781118867334.ch2 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Zhang, B., Deng, Z., Han, D., & Gong, J. (2025) · Crystal Growth & Design · doi:10.1021/acs.cgd.5c01061 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Chirality-specific lift forces of helix under shear flows
Zhang, Q.-Y., Kai-yan, H., & Yang, W.-Y. (2017) · Modern Physics Letters B · doi:10.1142/s0217984917501172 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Chirality-dependent forces in simple shear flow for helix aligned with streamlines
Zhang, Q.-Y., Yang, W.-Y., & Kai-yan, H. (2019) · Modern Physics Letters B · doi:10.1142/s0217984919504062 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Daplan, E., Terranova, U., & Turin, L. (2022) · The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters · doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c00788 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Chiral Analysis and Separation Using Molecular Rotation
Chachisvilis, M. (2018) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-64027-7.00021-5 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Double symmetry breaking in filamentous colloidal tactoids
Almukambetova, M., Almohammadi, H., Schleiffer, F., & Mezzenga, R. (2025) · Soft Matter · doi:10.1039/d5sm00236b · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Kimura, R., Kimura, T., & Horii, S. (2026) · Crystal Growth & Design · doi:10.1021/acs.cgd.5c01497 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Sitha, S. (2021) · Computational and Theoretical Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.comptc.2021.113446 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Vortex induced flower-like Ni-Co coating by a hydrothermal approach
Zhang, Y., Liu, F., & Desk, S. (2017) · SDRP Journal of Nanotechnology & Material Science · doi:10.25177/jnms.1.1.5
Prebiotic Asymmetric Synthesis of Ribose by CO2 Reduction in Hydrodynamic Cavitation with VortexPreprint
Fang, Y., Ding, W. Y., Ying, D., Zhang, W., & Jia, J. (2024) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3907376/v1
Prebiotic Asymmetric Synthesis of Ribose by CO2 Reduction in Hydrodynamic Cavitation with VortexPreprint
Fang, Y., Ding, W. Y., Ying, D., Zhang, W., & Jia, J. (2024) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3907376/v2
Prebiotic Asymmetric Synthesis of Ribose by CO2 Reduction in Hydrodynamic Cavitation with VortexPreprint
Fang, Y., Ding, W. Y., Ying, D., Zhang, W., & Jia, J. (2024) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3907376/v3
Gillet, J., Rongy, L., & Decker, Y. D. (2026) · Physical review. E · doi:10.1103/y85r-4vgp
Separation of Flexible Enantiomers Using Shear Flow
Pham, M. N., Cherek, L., & Gezelter, J. D. (2026) · Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling · doi:10.1021/acs.jcim.6c01064
Inertial and crowding influence of drift reversal in chiral fluids
Anonymous, Guo, R.-X., Li, J.-J., & Ai, B.-Q. (2026) · Physical review. E · doi:10.1103/y7px-v9w7
- Authors
- Hermans, T. M., Bishop, K. J. M., Stewart, P. S., Davis, S. H., & Grzybowski, B. A.
- Affiliations
- Northwestern University (US)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Grzybowski, Bartosz A.
- Venue
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2015-01-12
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 5640-5640
- ISSN
- 2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2035492259
- Cited by
- 52
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 2.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Communications (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Scholarworks@UNIST (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy (DESC0000989)
- Office of Science (DESC0000989)
- Basic Energy Sciences (DESC0000989, SC0000989)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Microfluidic and Bio-sensing Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Spectroscopy › Analytical Chemistry and Chromatography
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Computational Mechanics › Fluid Dynamics and Turbulent Flows
- Keywords
- enantiomer separation, vortex flow, Taylor-Couette flow, rotating flow, hydrodynamic model, origin of homochirality, chiral molecules
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
