Abstract
One mechanism previously proposed for the abiotic accumulation of molecules of one chirality in nature is asymmetric adsorption on the chiral surfaces of optically active quartz crystals. Earlier literature in this field is reviewed, with the conclusion that previous investigations of this phenomenon, using optical rotation criteria, have afforded ambiguous results. We now have studied the adsorption of radioactive D-and L-alanine on powderedd-andl-quartz, using change in radio-activity level as a criterion for both gross and differential adsorption.d-Quartz preferentially adsorbed D-alanine from anhydrous dimethyl-formamide solution, andl-quartz L-alanine. The differential adsorption varied between 1.0 and 1.8%. The implications of these observations are discussed from the viewpoint of early chemical evolution and the origin of optically active organic compounds in nature.
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A portion of this work has been presented before the College Park Colloquium on Chemical Evolution, University of Maryland, October, 1974, and has been described in abridged form in Science (Bonneret al., 1974).
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Bonner, W.A., Kavasmaneck, P.R., Martin, F.S. et al. Asymmetric adsorption by quartz: A model for the prebiotic origin of optical activity. Origins Life Evol Biosphere 6, 367–376 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01130338
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01130338