Chirality is a fundamental, persistent, but often overlooked feature of all living organisms on the molecular level as well as on the macroscopic scale. The high degree of preference for only one of two possible mirror image forms in Nature, often called biological homochirality is a puzzling, and not yet fully understood, phenomenon. This book covers biological homochirality from an interdisciplinary approach - contributions range from synthetic chemists, theoretical topologists and physicists, from palaeontologists and biologists to space scientists and representatives of the pharmaceutical and materials industries. Topics covered include - theory of biochirality, origins of biochirality, autocatalysis with amplification of chirality, macroscopic (present) biochirality, fossil records of chiral organisms - paleochirality, extraterrestrial origin of chirality, exceptions to the rule of biological homochirality, D-amino acids, chemical transfer of chirality, PV effects, and polarised radiation chemistry. Content: Preface , Pages 1-2 , Claudio Bartolacelli Chapter 2 - Dimensions of Biological Homochirality , Pages 3-12 , Gyula Pályi, Claudia Zucchi, Luciano Caglioti Chapter 3 - Chirality Algebra and the Right-Left Classification Problem , Pages 13-34 , R.B. King Chapter 4 - Theory of Biological Homochirality: Chirality, Symmetry Deficiency, and Electron-Cloud Holography in the Shape Analysis of Biomolecules , Pages 35-46 , Paul G. Mezey Chapter 5 - On the Biological Advantage of Chirality , Pages 47-68 , Gideon Gilat Chapter 6 - Origin of Biological Homochirality: Directed Selection or Random Motion? , Pages 69-83 , Vladik A. Avetisov Chapter 7 - Possible Mechanisms for Spontaneous Production of Enantiomeric Excess , Pages 85-97 , David Z. Lippmann, Julio Dix Chapter 8 - Search for the Origin of Homochirality of Biomolecules , Pages 99-103 , Lajos Keszthelyi Chapter 9 - The Role of Homochirality in Evolution , Pages 105-114 , Zhao Nansheng Chapter 10 - A New Method for Testing Models of Prebiotic Peptide Assembly , Pages 115-123 , Melanie Bengtson, Eric D. Edstrom Chapter 11 - Asymmetric Autocatalysis and Biomolecular Chirality , Pages 125-136 , Kenso Soai, Takanori Shibata Chapter 12 - Left-Right Asymmetry in Animal Embryogenesis , Pages 137-152 , Michael Levin Chapter 13 - Evolutionary Origin of Asymmetry in Early Metazoan Animals , Pages 153-190 , Jerzy Dzik Chapter 14 - Chirality in Charophytes: Stability and Evolution from 400 Million Years to Present , Pages 191-207 , Ingeborg Soulié-Märsche Chapter 15 - Application of Amino Acid Racemization in Fossil Pleistocene Vertebrate and Invertebrate Analysis. Preservation of Proteins and Amino Acids , Pages 209-229 , Trinidad de Torres Chapter 16 - Biomarker Reaction Kinetics during Kerogen Microscale Pyrolysis , Pages 231-246 , Geoffrey D. Abbott, Andrew W. Scott Chapter 17 - Aspartic Acid Racemization in the Dentine of Bears ( Ursus etruscus G. Cuvier, Ursus prearctos , Boule, Ursus deningeri von Reichenau and Ursus spelaeus Rosenmüller-Heinroth). Tooth Dentine Amino Acids Versus Mollusca Amino Acids , Pages 247-256 , T. de Torres, J.F. Llamas, L. Canoira, P. García-Alonso Chapter 18 - The Abiotic Generation of Homochirality on Saturn's Moon Titan , Pages 257-270 , J.I. Lunine, J. Beauchamp, M.A. Smith, E. Nikolaev Chapter 19 - d -Amino Acids in Nature , Pages 271-283 , Yoko Nagata Chapter 20 - Racemization-induced Defolding and Aggregation of Segments of β-amyloid Protein: An Early Step in the Formation of Amyloid Plaques , Pages 285-295 , Zs. Majer, E. Láng, E. Vass, S. Szabó, B. Hallgas, M. Hollósi Chapter 21 - Occurrence and Biosynthesis of Animal Peptides Containing a d -Amino Acid , Pages 297-304 , Günther Kreil Chapter 22 - Spontaneous d -Aspartic Acid Formation at Specific Sites of Lens Protein During Aging , Pages 305-313 , Noriko Fujii, Yuko Momose, Mitsuhiko Akaboshi Chapter 23 - Asymmetric Phenomena in Studies of encapsulation and Assembly , Pages 315-324 , Julius Rebek Jr Chapter 24 - Self-assembly of Cholesteric Liquid crystal Polyesters and their Stereoselective Interaction with Liposomes of DMPC , Pages 325-334 , Mercedes Pérez-Mendez, Fayos José, C. Reyes Mateo Chapter 25 - Transferring Chirality in Homogeneous Catalysis , Pages 335-345 , Paul S. Pregosin Chapter 26 - Chiral Genetics of Drugs and Related Compounds , Pages 347-360 , Béla Noszál Chapter 27 - Chiroptical Properties of (S)-(−) Methyl Glycolate- d 1 , Pages 361-366 , Arrigo Forni, Irene Moretti, Fabio Prati, Giovanni Torre Chapter 28 - Experimental Evidences for Parity Violating Energy Differences Between Enantiomers , Pages 367-376 , Andrea Szabó-Nagy, L. Keszthelyi Chapter 29 - On the Stabilization of Natural l -α-Amino Acids and d -Sugars via Parity-Violating Effects , Pages 377-385 , Riccardo Zanasi, Paolo Lazzeretti, Andrea Ligabue, Alessandro Soncini Chapter 30 - Radiodecomposition of d,l -Aspartic Acid by Tritium-β-Rays , Pages 387-392 , Mitsuhiko Akaboshi, Kenichi Kawai, Yoshiko Tanaka, Noriko Fujii Subject Index , Pages 393-407 Chirality is a fundamental, persistent, but often overlooked feature of all living organisms on the molecular level as well as on the macroscopic scale. The high degree of preference for only one of two possible mirror image forms in Nature, often called biological homochirality is a puzzling, and not yet fully understood, phenomenon.
This book covers biological homochirality from an interdisciplinary approach - contributions range from synthetic chemists, theoretical topologists and physicists, from palaeontologists and biologists to space scientists and representatives of the pharmaceutical and materials industries.
Topics covered include -
theory of biochirality,
origins of biochirality,
autocatalysis with amplification of chirality,
macroscopic (present) biochirality,
fossil records of chiral organisms - paleochirality,
extraterrestrial origin of chirality,
exceptions to the rule of biological homochirality, D-amino acids,
chemical transfer of chirality,
PV effects, and
polarised radiation chemistry.
The high degree of preference for only one of two possible mirror-image forms in nature, often called biological homochirality, is a puzzling phenomenon. This text covers the topic from a number of disciplines, including synthetic chemistry, theoretical topology and palaeontology.
