IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jchals/v5y2014i1p175-192d36811.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enantioselective Crystallization of Sodium Chlorate in the Presence of Racemic Hydrophobic Amino Acids and Static Magnetic Fields

Author

Listed:
  • María-Paz Zorzano

    (Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Carretera de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz 28850, Madrid, 28850, Spain)

  • Susana Osuna-Esteban

    (Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Carretera de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz 28850, Madrid, 28850, Spain)

  • Marta Ruiz-Bermejo

    (Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Carretera de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz 28850, Madrid, 28850, Spain)

  • Cesar Menor-Salván

    (Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Carretera de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz 28850, Madrid, 28850, Spain)

  • Sabino Veintemillas-Verdaguer

    (Department of Particulate Materials ICMM-CSIC, Sor Juana Inés de La Cruz 3, Cantoblanco 28049, Madrid, 28049, Spain)

Abstract

We study the bias induced by a weak (200 mT) external magnetic field on the preferred handedness of sodium chlorate crystals obtained by slow evaporation at ambient conditions of its saturated saline solution with 20 ppm of added racemic (dl) hydrophobic amino acids. By applying the Fisher test to pairs of experiments with opposing magnetic field orientation we conclude, with a confidence level of 99.7%, that at the water-air interface of this saline solution there is an enantioselective magnetic interaction that acts upon racemic mixtures of hydrophobic chiral amino acids. This interaction has been observed with the three tested racemic hydrophobic amino acids: dl-Phe, dl-Try and dl-Trp, at ambient conditions and in spite of the ubiquitous chiral organic contamination. This enantioselective magnetic dependence is not observed when there is only one handedness of added chiral amino-acid, if the added amino acid is not chiral or if there is no additive. This effect has been confirmed with a double blind test. This novel experimental observation may have implications for our view of plausible initial prebiotic scenarios and of the roles of the geomagnetic field in homochirality in the biosphere.

Suggested Citation

  • María-Paz Zorzano & Susana Osuna-Esteban & Marta Ruiz-Bermejo & Cesar Menor-Salván & Sabino Veintemillas-Verdaguer, 2014. "Enantioselective Crystallization of Sodium Chlorate in the Presence of Racemic Hydrophobic Amino Acids and Static Magnetic Fields," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-18, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jchals:v:5:y:2014:i:1:p:175-192:d:36811
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/5/1/175/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/5/1/175/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Colin D. O'Dowd & Maria Cristina Facchini & Fabrizia Cavalli & Darius Ceburnis & Mihaela Mircea & Stefano Decesari & Sandro Fuzzi & Young Jun Yoon & Jean-Philippe Putaud, 2004. "Biogenically driven organic contribution to marine aerosol," Nature, Nature, vol. 431(7009), pages 676-680, October.
    2. G. L. J. A. Rikken & E. Raupach, 2000. "Enantioselective magnetochiral photochemistry," Nature, Nature, vol. 405(6789), pages 932-935, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hugo I Cruz-Rosas & Francisco Riquelme & Patricia Santiago & Luis Rendón & Thomas Buhse & Fernando Ortega-Gutiérrez & Raúl Borja-Urby & Doroteo Mendoza & Carlos Gaona & Pedro Miramontes & Germinal Coc, 2019. "Multiwall and bamboo-like carbon nanotubes from the Allende chondrite: A probable source of asymmetry," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(7), pages 1-13, July.
    2. Daowang Peng & Chenglin Gu & Zhong Zuo & Yuanfeng Di & Xing Zou & Lulu Tang & Lunhua Deng & Daping Luo & Yang Liu & Wenxue Li, 2023. "Dual-comb optical activity spectroscopy for the analysis of vibrational optical activity induced by external magnetic field," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jchals:v:5:y:2014:i:1:p:175-192:d:36811. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.