Experimental evidence of chiral symmetry breaking in crystallization from primary nucleation

Abstract

Chiral symmetry breaking in stirred crystallization of sodium chlorate (NaClO 3) is believed to occur via nucleation of a single chiral “mother crystal” that produces a new generation of crystals which inherit its chirality. We here report results of stirred crystallizations resulting in massive “instantaneous” primary nucleation and total symmetry breaking. The results of these experiments suggest that the current explanation for chiral symmetry breaking via nucleation of a single “mother crystal” is not adequate and that the mechanism to explain the chiral symmetry breaking in crystallization remains as an open question.