Nucleotide-catalyzed conversion of racemic zeolite-type zincophosphate into enantioenriched crystals.

Abstract

Homochirality is a ubiquitous feature in living systems and plays a crucial role in biological processes. In the biosphere, many naturally occurring biochemical molecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates are homochiral.[1] In comparison, homochirality in the lithosphere and the inorganic world is a quite rare phenomenon. For example, even though quartz is chiral, it is found in nature in both right- and left-handed forms.[2] Also, unlike homochiral organic molecules,[3] chirality in the inorganic system often depends on the crystallization process which allows the generation of chirality through the organization of achiral inorganic units into the enantiomorphous space group. This crystallization process, however, almost always generates a mixture of right- and left-handed crystals, even though statistical fluctuations may occasionally result in enantioenriched bulk samples.[4]