Download or read book The Origin of Chirality in the Molecules of Life written by Albert Guijarro and published by Royal Society of Chemistry. This book was released on 2008-11-04 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an interdisciplinary review of one of the great unsolved mysteries that has fascinated scientists for over 150 years: the origin of chirality in biomolecules. It was Pasteur who first initiated the search for a deterministic theory to explain the 'handedness' of biomolecules. His theory, that a 'dissimetric' force was involved, was correct in essence but he never saw the fruits of his labour. Current thinking tells us that asymmetry in the universe has its origins in the forces that unfolded after the Big Bang and, more specifically, the weak force. Being 'left handed', the weak force imprinted its signature on the evolving Universe. However, at the molecular level, the weak force does not provide a straightforward explanation of biomolecular homochirality. In fact, it is yet to be proved beyond doubt that a causal link exists at all. Many alternative theories have been put forward, some of them resting on solid ground, but all lacking definitive experimental evidence to back them up. Some postulate that the handedness of molecules in the biosphere arose by chance but this is hard to test. Others rely on discovering life on similar planets and making comparisons with Earth. Alternative theories have emerged from a range of backgrounds including geology, biology, chemistry, physics and astronomy. Current advances in fields as diverse as space exploration, prebiotic chemistry and high-energy physics may help to provide an answer. Important pieces of information will come from observations at the two frontiers of science: outer space and the subatomic world. Observation of distant planets, galaxies, and even actual sampling of celestial objects from beyond the solar system are projects currently underway. At the other end of the spectrum, there are experiments that study the elemental properties of matter, such as symmetry, and interactions with the fundamental forces. All these efforts will render their fruits soon. This volume unifies all the theories of the origin of biomolecular homochirality together in one source. The various chapters focus on chance mechanisms, physical forces such as the 'weakinteraction', fluid dynamics, amplification of chirality, the organic contents of meteorites and comets and, finally, the physical view of an intrinsically asymmetric universe. This complete, interdisciplinary review of an intriguing subject condenses a large and disparate range of contributions from journals in almost every scientific field. The various theories have been organized, interrelated and explained in a unified way. One of the book's strengths is its extensive use of graphic material to aid understanding the many subjects covered. It is fundamental, comprehensive and structured to be accessible for educational purposes.
Download or read book The Origin of Chirality in the Molecules of Life written by Albert Guijarro and published by Royal Society of Chemistry. This book was released on 2008 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few times an unsolved issue in science has dealt with a larger number of approaches or theories intending to shed light on it and few times this has been done from so different, often orthogonal perspectives. This book covers a hot topic, one of the unsolved problems not just in chemistry, but in science
Download or read book Progress in Biological Chirality written by Gyula Palyi and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2004-12-13 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following on from Advances in BioChirality, Progress in Biological Chirality provides a unique summary and review of the most recent developments in the field of biochirality. Living organisms use only one enantiomer of chiral molecules in the majority of biologically important processes. The exact origin and mechanisms for this surprising selectivity are not yet known. This book discusses current research aimed at identifying the scientific reasons that may contribute to this phenomenon. Progress in Biological Chirality takes an interdisciplinary approach to this exciting field, covering a wide range of topics, such as, theory, palaeontology and food technology, to name but a few. This book presents findings via a broad spectrum of scientific approaches making it an excellent overview of Biological Chirality, suitable for postgraduate students, practitioners and researchers in the field of chemistry, biochemistry, biology, palaeontology, and food science with an interest in Chirality. - This book contains 32 chapters written by Authors, who are leading authorities in the field - Presents the most recent research taking place in this highly challenging field - Contains both reference material for the specialist and provides an overview for those who are interested in the fundamental problems of biology and chemistry
Download or read book Origin of Chirality in the Molecules of Life written by Albert Guijarro and published by Royal Society of Chemistry. This book was released on 2022-06-10 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an interdisciplinary review of one of the great unsolved mysteries that has fascinated scientists for over 150 years: the origin of chirality in biomolecules. Current advances in fields as diverse as space exploration, prebiotic chemistry and high-energy physics may help to provide an answer. Important pieces of information will come from observations at the two frontiers of science: outer space and the subatomic world. Observation of distant planets, galaxies, and even actual sampling of celestial objects from beyond the solar system are projects currently underway. At the other end of the spectrum, there are experiments that study the elemental properties of matter, such as symmetry, and interactions with the fundamental forces. Completely revised and updated this new edition once again unifies all the theories of the origin of biomolecular homochirality together in a single source. This complete, interdisciplinary review of an intriguing subject condenses a large and disparate range of contributions from journals in almost every scientific field. The various theories have been organized, interrelated and explained in a unified way. It is fundamental, comprehensive and structured to be accessible for educational purposes.
Download or read book The Origin of Chirality in the Molecules of Life 2nd Edition written by Albert Guijarro and published by Royal Society of Chemistry. This book was released on 2022-06-10 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an interdisciplinary review of one of the great unsolved mysteries that has fascinated scientists for over 150 years: the origin of chirality in biomolecules. It is fundamental, comprehensive and structured to be accessible for educational purposes.
Download or read book Organic Stereochemistry written by Hua-Jie Zhu and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-08-10 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adopting a novel approach to the topic by combining theoretical knowledge and practical results, this book presents the most popular and useful computational and experimental methods applied for studying the stereochemistry of chemical reactions and compounds. The text is clearly divided into three sections on fundamentals, spectroscopic and computational techniques, and applications in organic synthesis. The first part provides a brief introduction to the field of chirality and stereochemistry, while the second part covers the different methodologies, such as optical rotation, electronic circular dichroism, vibrational circular dicroism, and Raman spectroscopy. The third section then goes on to describe selective examples in organic synthesis, classified by reaction type, i.e. enantioselective, chemoselective and stereoselective reactions. A final chapter on total synthesis of natural products rounds off the book. A valuable reference for researchers in academia and industry working in the field of organic synthesis, computational chemistry, spectroscopy or medicinal chemistry.
Download or read book Fundamentals Of Supramolecular Chirality written by Roberto Purrello and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2021-10-18 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fundamentals of Supramolecular Chirality is a critical description of the start and advancement of supramolecular chirality. This book focuses on the noncovalent approach with some supplementary examples of covalent supramolecular chirality.This contribution to supramolecular chirality is not intended to be a mere catalogue and description of the work done. It also traces a philosophical path following the development and possible perspectives of this topic, providing not a review but a critical examination of the field.
Download or read book The Chemistry of Life s Origins written by J. Mayo Greenberg and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains the lectures presented at the second course of the International School of Space Chemistry held in Erice (Sicily) from October 20 - 30 1991 at the "E. Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture". The course was attended by 58 participants from 13 countries. The Chemistry of Life's Origins is well recognized as one of the most critical subjects of modem chemistry. Much progress has been made since the amazingly perceptive contributions by Oparin some 70 years ago when he first outlined a possible series of steps starting from simple molecules to basic building blocks and ultimate assembly into simple organisms capable of replicating, catalysis and evolution to higher organisms. The pioneering experiments of Stanley Miller demonstrated already forty years ago how easy it could have been to form the amino acids which are critical to living organisms. However we have since learned and are still learning a great deal more about the primitive conditions on earth which has led us to a rethinking of where and how the condition for prebiotic chemical processes occurred. We have also learned a great deal more about the molecular basis for life. For instance, the existence of DNA was just discovered forty years ago.
Download or read book Biochirality written by Pedro Cintas and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-07-08 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early History of the Recognition of Molecular Biochirality, by Joseph Gal, Pedro Cintas Synthesis and Chirality of Amino Acids Under Interstellar Conditions, by Chaitanya Giri, Fred Goesmann, Cornelia Meinert, Amanda C. Evans, Uwe J. Meierhenrich Chemical and Physical Models for the Emergence of Biological Homochirality, by son E. Hein, Dragos Gherase, Donna G. Blackmond Biomolecules at Interfaces: Chiral, Naturally, by Arántzazu González-Campo and David B. Amabilino Stochastic Mirror Symmetry Breaking: Theoretical Models and Simulation of Experiments, by Celia Blanco, David Hochberg Self-Assembly of Dendritic Dipeptides as a Model of Chiral Selection in Primitive Biological Systems, by Brad M. Rosen, Cécile Roche, Virgil Percec Chirality and Protein Biosynthesis, by Sindrila Dutta Banik, Nilashis Nandi
Download or read book Chiral Nanomaterials written by Zhiyong Tang and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-03-05 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thorough and up-to-date, this book presents recent developments in this exciting research field. To begin with, the text covers the fabrication of chiral nanomaterials via various synthesis methods, including electron beam lithography, ion beam etching, chemical synthesis and biological DNA directed assembly. This is followed by the relevant theory and reaction mechanisms, with a discussion of the characterization of chiral nanomaterials according to the optical properties of metal nanoparticles, semiconductor nanocrystals, and nanoclusters. The whole is rounded off by a summary of applications in the field of catalysis, sensors, and biomedicine. With its comprehensive yet concise coverage of the whole spectrum of research, this is invaluable reading for senior researchers and entrants to the field of nanoscience and materials science.
Download or read book Amino Acids and the Asymmetry of Life written by Uwe Meierhenrich and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-08-15 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "How did life originate and why were left-handed molecules selected for its architecture?" This question of high public and interdisciplinary scientific interest is the central theme of this book. It is widely known that in processes triggering the origin of life on Earth, the equal occurrence, the parity between left-handed amino acids and their right-handed mirror images, was violated. The balance was inevitably tipped to the left – as a result of which life's proteins today exclusively implement the left form of amino acids. Written in an engaging style, this book describes how the basic building blocks of life, the amino acids, formed. After a comprehensible introduction to stereochemistry, the author addresses the inherent property of amino acids in living organisms, namely the preference for left-handedness. What was the cause for the violation of parity of amino acids in the emergence of life on Earth? All the fascinating models proposed by physicists, chemists and biologist are vividly presented including the scientific conflicts. The author describes the attempt to verify any of those models with the chirality module of the ROSETTA mission, a probe built and launched with the mission to land on a comet and analyse whether there are chiral organic compounds that could have been brought to the Earth by cometary impacts. A truly interdisciplinary astrobiology book, "Amino Acids and the Asymmetry of Life" will fascinate students, researchers and all readers with backgrounds in natural sciences. With a foreword by Henri B. Kagan.
Download or read book Advances in BioChirality written by C. Zucchi and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 1999-09-08 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chirality is a fundamental, persistent, but often overlooked feature of all living organisms on the molecular level as well as on the macroscopic scale. The high degree of preference for only one of two possible mirror image forms in Nature, often called biological homochirality is a puzzling, and not yet fully understood, phenomenon. This book covers biological homochirality from an interdisciplinary approach - contributions range from synthetic chemists, theoretical topologists and physicists, from palaeontologists and biologists to space scientists and representatives of the pharmaceutical and materials industries. Topics covered include - theory of biochirality, origins of biochirality, autocatalysis with amplification of chirality, macroscopic (present) biochirality, fossil records of chiral organisms - paleochirality, extraterrestrial origin of chirality, exceptions to the rule of biological homochirality, D-amino acids, chemical transfer of chirality, PV effects, and polarised radiation chemistry.
Download or read book The Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2007-06-26 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The search for life in the solar system and beyond has to date been governed by a model based on what we know about life on Earth (terran life). Most of NASA's mission planning is focused on locations where liquid water is possible and emphasizes searches for structures that resemble cells in terran organisms. It is possible, however, that life exists that is based on chemical reactions that do not involve carbon compounds, that occurs in solvents other than water, or that involves oxidation-reduction reactions without oxygen gas. To assist NASA incorporate this possibility in its efforts to search for life, the NRC was asked to carry out a study to evaluate whether nonstandard biochemistry might support life in solar system and conceivable extrasolar environments, and to define areas to guide research in this area. This book presents an exploration of a limited set of hypothetical chemistries of life, a review of current knowledge concerning key questions or hypotheses about nonterran life, and suggestions for future research.
Download or read book Stardust Supernovae and the Molecules of Life written by Richard Boyd and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-12-15 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where were the amino acids, the molecules of life, created: perhaps in a lightning storm in the early Earth, or perhaps elsewhere in the cosmos? This book argues that at least some of them must have been produced in the cosmos, and that the fact that the Earthly amino acids have a specific handedness provides an important clue for that explanation. The book discusses several models that purport to explain the handedness, ultimately proposing a new explanation that involves cosmic processing of the amino acids produced in space. The book provides a tour for laypersons that includes a definition of life, the Big Bang, stellar nucleosynthesis, the electromagnetic spectrum, molecules, and supernovae and the particles they produce.
Download or read book Salts of Amino Acids written by Michel Fleck and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-07-08 with total page 581 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last decades, amino acids have been found to be of importance in many fields of science. Apart from their biological function, this family of organic compounds has been employed in the synthesis of a vast variety of salts, with impact on areas such as materials science, pharmaceutical or physical research. This covers a wide range, from the discovery of important ferroelectrics or non-linear optical materials to nutrients, flavor enhancers or drugs. This book describes amino acids and their salts with cations, anions and inorganic compounds from a chemical, physical and crystallographical point of view. Additional data on structural properties, crystal growth and the relation of structure and physical properties of amino acid salts is discussed.
Download or read book Prebiotic Chemistry written by Peter Walde and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2005-10-13 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mirror Image Asymmetry written by James P. Riehl and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-04-22 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An overview of the importance and consequences of asymmetry from molecules to the macroscopic world As scientists have become more capable of probing the structure of three-dimensional objects at the molecular level, the need to understand the concept and the consequences of mirror-image asymmetry—chirality—has increased enormously. Written at an introductory level, Mirror-Image Asymmetry provides an overview of the importance and effects of asymmetry from the atomic and molecular world of physics and chemistry to the organisms and structures that we see and use in our everyday life. The reader will develop a broad appreciation of three-dimensional asymmetry from the microscopic molecular world to the macroscopic world of handedness, automobile driving, windmills, sports, and similar phenomena. The book features: An introduction to basic definitions and the nomenclature of asymmetric and dissymmetric molecules Up-to-date examples of the importance and consequences of asymmetry in modern drug applications, current theories of the origin of asymmetry in nature, and examples of molecular asymmetry in smell, taste, and insect communication Many illustrations, chemical structures, and photographs that enable the reader to connect the actual asymmetrical structures to the different phenomena that depend on structural asymmetry In the 150 years since Louis Pasteur discovered asymmetry in molecular structures, scientists have made great progress in understanding how interactions between chiral molecules influence biochemical processes. This knowledge is leading to very sophisticated asymmetric synthetic techniques that have greatly benefitted many research groups especially those in the pharmaceutical industry. This guide to the role of molecular and macroscopic chirality will inspire students and scientists in chemistry, biology, physics, and drug discovery.
