Colloquium: Homochirality: Symmetry breaking in systems driven far from equilibrium

Abstract

Subsequent to the discovery of chirality of organic molecules by Pasteur, living organisms have been found to utilize biomolecules of only one handedness. The origin of this homochirality in life still remains unknown. It is believed that homochirality is attained in two stages: the initial creation of a chirality bias and its subsequent amplification to pure chirality. In the last two decades, two novel experiments have established the second stage in different fields: Soai and co-workers achieved the amplification of enantiomeric excess in the production of chiral organic molecules, and Viedma obtained homochirality in the solution growth of sodium chlorate crystals. These experiments are explained by a theory with a nonlinear evolution equation for the chiral order parameter; nonlinear processes in reactions or in crystal growth induce enantiomeric excess amplification, and the recycling of achiral elements ensures homochirality. Recycling drives the system to a state far from equilibrium with a free energy higher than that of the equilibrium state.