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Science 5 June 1981:
Vol. 212. no. 4499, pp. 1145 - 1146
DOI: 10.1126/science.212.4499.1145
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Articles

Origins of Chirality in Nature: A Reassessment of the Postulated Role of Bentonite

J. B. YOUATT 1 and R. D. BROWN 1

1 Department of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia

Bondy and Harrington have proposed that selective binding of L isomers of amino acids and D isomers of sugars to bentonite is the mechanism by which the chirality of molecules in living cells was originally established. Further experiments indicate that the observations of Bondy and Harrington are better explained in terms of the effects of the binding to bentonite of the products of radiochemical decomposition.

Submitted on October 31, 1980
Revised on February 6, 1981


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Clay Minerals 37, 551-557
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