Amplification of enantiomeric concentrations under credible prebiotic conditions
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Solutions with as little as 1% enantiomeric excess (ee) of D- or L-phenylalanine are amplified to 90% ee (a 95/5 ratio) by two successive evaporations to precipitate the racemate. Such a process on the prebiotic earth could lead to a mechanism by which meteoritic chiral alpha-alkyl amino acids could form solutions with high ee values that were needed for the beginning of biology.
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Serine shows a eutectic of 99% ee, meaning a nearly homochiral solution is achievable even when the overall ee of solid and solution combined is close to racemic.
“The proteinogenic amino acid serine shows a eutectic of 99% ee, meaning that a nearly homochiral solution is achievable even when the overall ee of the solid and solution combined is close to racemic.”
From The Origin of Biological Homochirality (2019) · cites this paper as Breslow and Levine 2006
Valine shows a eutectic of 47% ee, meaning a much lower level of chiral amplification is possible for this amino acid.
“Valine, on the other hand, shows a eutectic of 47% ee, which means that a much lower level of chiral ampli fi cation is possible for this amino acid.”
From The Origin of Biological Homochirality (2019) · cites this paper as Breslow and Levine 2006
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- Authors
- Breslow, R., & Levine, M. S.
- Affiliations
- Columbia University (US)
- ORCID
- Levine, Mindy S.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2006-08-29
- Volume
- 103
- Issue
- 35
- Pages
- 12979-12980
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC1559738
- OpenAlex
- W2044484929
- Cited by
- 140
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 4.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Enzyme Catalysis and Immobilization
- Keywords
- enantiomeric excess amplification, prebiotic chemistry, phenylalanine, racemization, chiral amino acids, meteoritic amino acids, origin of homochirality, enantiomeric excess
- MeSH terms
- Phenylalanine, Chemical Precipitation, Solutions, Stereoisomerism
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