Molecular chirality and the origin of life

Abstract

In the living systems L-amino acids and D-sugars are found with almost no exceptions. Although all the molecular chirality must have been established prior to the emergence of life, the origin of the asymmetry of molecules is still an unsolved problem. The time of appearance of the asymmetry of molecules, therefore, was quite problematic during chemical evolution. Since Pasteur's discovery in 1848, a large number of works for solving this problem have been carried out on the basis of mathematics, physics or chemistry. All the proposals which put forth for breaking the symmetry are still considered to be too weak to explain the cause of obtaining the chiral purity as a result of the symmetry breaking of molecules. In order to expand our scope, new sources of the symmetry breaking of molecules should be considered. In this article, some approaches to the achiral-chiral transition are reviewed, which will give an idea for the origin of asymmetry of molecules.