Communications Chemistry (Jun 2021)
Chiroptical activity of hydroxycarboxylic acids with implications for the origin of biological homochirality
Abstract
Enantiomerically-enriched hydroxycarboxylic acids have been found in meteorites, but the possible origin of this asymmetry has not been explored experimentally. Here circular dichroism/anisotropy experiments suggest a common astrochemical mechanism for the generation of enantiomeric excess in hydroxycarboxylic acids and amino acids.