Title:
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Spontaneous mirror symmetry breaking in the limited enantioselective autocatalysis model: abyssal hydrotermal vents as scenario for the emergence of chirality in prebiotic chemistry
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Author:
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Ribó i Trujillo, Josep M.; Crusats i Aliguer, Joaquim; El Hachemi, Zoubir; Moyano i Baldoire, Albert; Blanco, Celia; Hochberg, David
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Other authors:
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Universitat de Barcelona |
Abstract:
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The emergence of chirality in enantioselective autocatalysis for compounds unable to transform according to the Frank-like reaction network is discussed with respect to the controversial limited enantioselectivity (LES) model composed of coupled enantioselective and non-enantioselective autocatalyses. The LES model cannot lead to spontaneous mirror symmetry breaking (SMSB) either in closed systems with a homogeneous temperature distribution or in closed systems with a stationary non-uniform temperature distribution. However, simulations of chemical kinetics in a two-compartment model demonstrate that SMSB may occur if both autocatalytic reactions are spatially separated at different temperatures in different compartments but coupled under the action of a continuous internal flow. In such conditions, the system can evolve, for certain reaction and system parameters, toward a chiral stationary state; that is, the system is able to reach a bifurcation point leading to SMSB. Numerical simulations in which reasonable chemical parameters have been used suggest that an ade- quate scenario for such a SMSB would be that of abyssal hydrothermal vents, by virtue of the typical temper- ature gradients found there and the role of inorganic solids mediating chemical reactions in an enzyme-like role. Key Words: Homochirality Prebiotic chemistry. |
Subject(s):
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-Exobiologia -Macromolècules -Biomolècules -Cosmologia -Quiralitat -Exobiology -Macromolecules -Biomolecules -Cosmology -Chirality |
Rights:
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(c) Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., 2013
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Document type:
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Article Article - Published version |
Published by:
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Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
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