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Science 9 August 1974:
Vol. 185. no. 4150, pp. 525 - 527
DOI: 10.1126/science.185.4150.525
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Articles

Mechanism for the Autocatalytic Formation of Optically Active Compounds under Abiotic Conditions

Bernard S. Green 1 and Lilly Heller 1

1 Department of Structural Chemistry Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

The bromination of chiral crystalline sam ples of 4,4'-dimethylchalcone was reinvestigated. In the presence of the optically active reaction product, (+)-or (-)-chalcone dibromide, crystallization from solutions of the achiral chalcone is specifically directed toward one-handedness. A feedback mechanism can thus be envisaged where optically active compounds are formed, generate additional material of the same chirality, and communicate this chirality to other regions, simply by cycles of solidification, reaction, and liquefaction.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)