Asymmetric Photoreactions as the Origin of Biomolecular Homochirality: A Critical Review

Physics

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Amino Acids, Asymmetric Photolysis, Circulardichroism, Circularly Polarized Light, Homochirality, Magnetochiraldichroism, Magnetic Field, Neutron Star, Ribose, Rna World, Star-Forming Region

Scientific paper

The role of asymmetric photoreactions (occurring in space or on the primitive Earth) in the origin of biomolecular homochirality is critically reviewed. A general description of the various possible ways for light to interact with chiral molecules is first presented on the basis of a series expansion of the dielectric constant: natural, magnetic and magnetochiral circular dichroism are identified with the first three terms in this development. Natural and magnetochiral circular dichroism may cause, through asymmetric photolysis, an enantiomeric excess in a racemic mixture of chiral molecules irradiated, respectively, by circularly polarized ultraviolet light, or by unpolarized ultraviolet light in the presence of a magnetic field non-perpendicular to the light beam. Terrestrial and extraterrestrial sites matching these conditions are then critically reviewed. Finally, we stress the possibility to arrive at the homochirality of amino acids through a path involving D-ribose during RNA world as an alternative to the usual scenarios operating directly on amino acids.

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