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Chiral Analysis
Advances in Spectroscopy,
Chromatography and
Emerging Methods
Second Edition
Edited by
PRASAD L. POLAVARAPU
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
Elsevier
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NOTICES
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broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment
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Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluat-
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contained in the material herein.
ISBN: 978-0-444-64027-7
Chiral Analysis
Advances in Spectroscopy,
Chromatography and
Emerging Methods
Second Edition
Edited by
PRASAD L. POLAVARAPU
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
CONTENTS
1.1 Introduction3
1.2 Chirality: terminology and quantification issues 3
1.3 Chiral asymmetry in nature 10
1.4 Theory of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking 15
1.5 Sensitivity of chiral symmetry breaking transitions to asymmetric
interactions19
1.6 Examples of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking 22
1.7 Concluding remarks 25
References25
2.1 Introduction29
2.2 Homochirality30
2.3 Chemical and biological mechanisms for creating circular
spectropolarimetric signals 35
2.4 Considerations for the remote sensing of homochirality in our solar
system and beyond 45
2.5 Instrumentation50
2.6 Conclusion and outlook 60
References61
3.1 Introduction73
Part A—The polarization of light 73
3.2 Light as a wave 74
v
vi Contents
4.1 Introduction153
4.2 OR studies 158
4.3 ECD studies 172
4.4 VCD studies 184
4.5 ROA studies 193
4.6 Summary195
References195
5.1 Introduction201
5.2 Definitions of VOA 204
5.3 Measurement of VOA 206
5.4 Theoretical basis of VOA 208
5.5 Calculation of VOA 214
5.6 Determination of AC 216
5.7 Determination of ee of multiple chiral species 226
5.8 VOA of solids and formulated products 235
5.9 Summary and conclusions 238
References239
7.1 Introduction293
7.2 Methodologies for determining AC and their evaluations 294
7.3 Methodologies for chiral synthesis and their evaluations 297
7.4 Camphorsultam dichlorophthalic acid, CSDP acid (−)-1,
and camphorsultam phthalic acid, CPS acid (−)-5, useful
for enantioresolution of alcohols by HPLC and determination
of their ACs by X-ray crystallography 299
7.5 A novel chiral molecular tool, 2-methoxy-2-(1-naphthyl)-propionic
acid {MαNP acid (s)-(+)-2}, useful for enantioresolution of alcohols
and determination of their ACs by the 1H nmr diamagnetic anisotropy
method312
7.6 Complementary use of CSDP acid (−)-1 and MαNP acid (s)-(+)-2
for enantioresolution of alcohols and determination of their ACs
by X-ray crystallographic and 1H nmr diamagnetic anisotropy
methods325
7.7 Conclusions338
References339
8.1 Introduction345
8.2 A chiroptical probe for chiral resolution and determination
of the absolute configuration of aromatic alcohols 346
8.3 A chiroptical probe for determination of the absolute configuration
of primary amines 352
8.4 A chiroptical probe for chirality transcription and amplification
by the forming of [2]pseudorotaxanes 358
8.5 Conclusions363
References363
viii Contents
9.1 Introduction367
9.2 Low-molecular-weight csas 371
9.3 CSAs involving ion pairing processes 383
9.4 Molecular tweezer csas 389
9.5 Synthetic macrocycle csas 391
9.6 Cyclodextrins401
9.7 Natural products 406
9.8 Lyotropic chiral liquid crystals 408
9.9 Chiral sensing 409
9.10 Configurational assignments 409
9.11 Conclusions411
References412
10.1 Introduction429
10.2 Blood and blood-based derivatives 430
10.3 Hen egg white 446
10.4 Vitreous humor 447
10.5 Urine447
10.6 Chiroclinics—chiroptical methods as diagnostic tools 452
10.7 Concluding remarks 459
References460
11.1 Introduction469
11.2 Commercial stationary phases 471
11.3 Non-commercial stationary phases 490
11.4 Conclusions500
References500
12.1 Introduction507
12.2 Historical background of chiral liquid chromatography 508
Contents ix
13.1 Introduction565
13.2 Separation principle in chiral CE: electrophoretic or chromatographic? 566
13.3 Enantioseparations with charged and uncharged chiral selectors 567
13.4 Enantioselective and nonselective phenomena in chiral CEKC567
13.5 Similarities and differences between enantioseparations
by pressure-driven chromatography and CEKC569
13.6 Modes of enantioseparations in CEKC574
13.7 Chiral selectors 584
13.8 Selector–selectand interaction in chiral CE586
13.9 Mathematical models of CE enantioseparations 589
13.10 Enantioseparations in capillary electrochromatography 593
13.11 Future trends 600
References601
14.1 Introduction607
14.2 Chiral stationary phases for SFC610
14.3 Analytical separations 612
14.4 Ultrafast high-efficient SFC separations 618
14.5 Conclusions626
References626
x Contents
15.1 Introduction631
15.2 Chromatography and mass spectrometry 633
15.3 Liquid chromatography 635
15.4 Electrophoresis–mass spectrometry 637
15.5 Isomer separations by IM-MS 640
15.6 Conclusions643
References644
16.1 Introduction649
16.2 Optical activity 650
16.3 Single-pass polarimetry 652
16.4 Cavity ring-down polarimetry 654
16.5 Cavity ring-down polarimetry with signal reversals 660
16.6 Continuous-wave cavity-enhanced polarimetry with signal reversals 672
16.7 Future outlook and conclusions 675
References676
17.1 Introduction679
17.2 Basic principles of molecular rotational spectroscopy 682
17.3 Chiral tag rotational spectroscopy for enantiomer analysis 698
17.4 Three-wave mixing rotational spectroscopy for enantiomer analysis 714
17.5 Conclusions723
References725
18.1 Introduction731
18.2 Chiral rotational spectroscopy 732
Contents xi
19.1 Introduction753
19.2 Chiral separations in SFs754
19.3 Chiral separations in REFs762
19.4 Summary776
References776
Index779
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Federica Aiello
University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
Daniel W. Armstrong
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington,TX,
United States
Federica Balzano
University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
Stephen M. Barnett
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Laurence D. Barron
University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Ewan W. Blanch
RMIT University, Melbourne,Vic., Australia
Kenneth W. Busch
Baylor University, Waco, TX, United States
Marianna A. Busch
Baylor University, Waco, TX, United States
Robert P. Cameron
University of Strathclyde; University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom; Max Planck
Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany
Walther Caminati
Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician”, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Mirianas Chachisvilis
Solvexa LLC, Keswick, CT, San Diego, CA, United States
Bezhan Chankvetadze
Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
Alessia Ciogli
Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
James N. Dodds
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
Rina K. Dukor
BioTools, Inc., Jupiter, FL, United States
Luca Evangelisti
Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician”, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
xiii
xiv List of Contributors
Roberta Franzini
Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Francesco Gasparrini
Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Jörg B. Götte
University of Strathclyde; University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom; Nanjing
University, Nanjing, China
Lucie Habartová
University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
Nobuyuki Harada
Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Omar H. Ismail
Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Inge Loes ten Kate
Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
George E. Katsoprinakis
IESL-FORTH; University of Crete, Heraklion-Crete, Greece
Dilip Kondepudi
Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
Ikeda Mari
Department of Chemistry, Education Center, Faculty of Engineering, Chiba Institute of
Technology, Chiba, Japan
Jody C. May
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
John A. McLean
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
Shaun T. Mutter
Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
Laurence A. Nafie
Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, NY; BioTools, Inc., Jupiter, FL, United States
Saeideh Ostovar pour
RMIT University, Melbourne,Vic., Australia
Brooks H. Pate
Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville,VA, United States
Rahul A. Patil
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington,TX,
United States
List of Contributors xv
David Patterson
Department of Physics, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA,
United States
C.H. Lucas Patty
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Cristobal Perez
Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Hamburg, Germany
Prasad L. Polavarapu
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
Vijay Raghavan
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
T. Peter Rakitzis
IESL-FORTH; University of Crete, Heraklion-Crete, Greece
Melanie Schnell
Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Hamburg, Germany
Vladimír Setnička
University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
Kuwahara Shunsuke
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Toho University; Research Center for
Materials with Integrated Properties, Toho University, Chiba, Japan
Frans Snik
Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
Dimitris Sofikitis
IESL-FORTH; University of Crete, Heraklion-Crete, Greece
William B. Sparks
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States
Alexandros K. Spiliotis
IESL-FORTH; University of Crete, Heraklion-Crete, Greece
Javix Thomas
Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Gloria Uccello-Barretta
University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
Claudio Villani
Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Muhammad F. Wahab
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington,TX,
United States
xvi List of Contributors
Choyce A. Weatherly
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington,TX,
United States
Yunjie Xu
Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Habata Yoichi
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Toho University; Research Center for
Materials with Integrated Properties, Toho University, Chiba, Japan
PREFACE
The subject of chirality spans different disciplines and has become a focal
point for the discussion on its role in the origin of life.The ubiquitous pres-
ence of chirality that drives the sustenance of life on this planet raises the
specter of the potential for its presence outside of this planet and for the
existence of extraterrestrial life. These fundamental topics render chirality
an important role for scientific curiosity and investigations. Modern drug
development and pharmaceutical research are heavily influenced by the
role of chirality in their respective goals. Separations of the enantiomers
of chiral compounds, distinguishing among diastereomers, determining the
three dimensional structures of chiral molecules are the topics that domi-
nate natural sciences today and are broadly categorized under the banner
of Chiral Analysis.
The first edition of Chiral Analysis, edited by Kenneth Busch and Mari-
anna Busch, appeared in 2006 describing the current-state-of research at
that time. As fundamental science undergoes never-ending development,
one finds 12 years later, that the then existing methods have undergone
major refinements and several new methods have come into practice. For
active researchers, it is important to stay informed of these developments.
Therefore, the purpose of this second edition is to update the then existing
methods as well as to describe the newly developed methods.
This book is divided into four sections. The first section, Chirality in
Nature, contains two chapters. The first chapter has been updated from the
first edition. The second chapter is newly written and presents state of the
art in remote sensing of homo chirality. The second section, Spectroscopic
Methods and Analyses, presents eight chapters on different chiroptical spec-
troscopic methods. Among these, Chapters 3, 5, 6 and 8 are updated ver-
sions from the first edition, while the others, namely, Chapters 4, 7, 9 and
10 are newly written. The third section, Chromatographic and Electromi-
gration Methods, provides state of the art in chromatographic chiral sepa-
rations in five different chapters. All these five chapters are newly written.
The fourth section, Emerging Methods, contains four new chapters that
describe newly emerged methods in recent years, each describing a new
independent method with novel applications.
xvii
xviii Preface
Prasad L. Polavarapu
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
PART ONE
Chirality in Nature
CHAPTER 1
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The wide-ranging chiral asymmetry in nature has given rise to a
multidisciplinary interest in chirality. It is remarkable that nature does not
exhibit left–right symmetry at any level: morphological, molecular, and
even at the most fundamental level of elementary particle interactions
[1–3]. At the astronomical level, circularly polarized light has been found in
Orion Nebula [4], indicating the existence of large regions of space with
asymmetry.
Chiral asymmetry in biomolecules—the predominance of l-amino ac-
ids and d-sugars—has profound consequences for pharmaceutical and ag-
ricultural chemistry. It necessitates us to develop a theoretical framework in
which we can quantitatively study chirality and study processes that gener-
ate chiral asymmetry. In this chapter, we will discuss the basic definitions
and nomenclature used to describe chiral systems. This will be followed by
a brief survey of known chiral asymmetries in nature and questions they
raise.We will then present a general theory of spontaneous chiral symmetry
breaking and discuss examples of spontaneous generation of asymmetry.
Figure 1.1 Examples of basic chiral units. All complex objects can be reduced to a set of
basic chiral units. As shown in the lower part, every basic chiral unit can be associated
with a directed circle and a vector which together define a right- or left-handed helix.
object” to the one who does not know what it is, say to a being on a dis-
tant planet? Could we send this information as a radio signal coded as a
sequence of digits (“0” and “1”)? The answer to this question turns out to
be negative; it is not possible to specify what one means by “left” or “right”
in a linear sequence of digits. A three-dimensional object or a chirally asym-
metric phenomenon in nature is needed to specify this information [6–8].
While Kelvin’s definition clearly identifies chiral object, we often have
a need to distinguish between a simple chiral object, such as a tetrahedral
molecule with four different atoms, and a complex chiral object, such as a
protein. To describe chirality of assemblies of simple achiral building blocks,
we may define a basic chiral unit as an object that cannot be divided into two
or more chiral objects; any disassembly of such a unit will result in achiral
subunits. Some examples of basic chiral units are shown in Fig. 1.1. Ac-
cording to this definition, a helix made of a continuous line segment is not
a basic chiral unit; however, a helical assembly of sphere consisting of four
spheres is a basic chiral unit. All basic chiral units can be associated with a
direction of rotation and an arrow that together define a helix as shown
in Fig. 1.1. (In certain situations, one might identify the direction of rota-
tion with an axial vector, while the arrow is a vector. The combination of
Chiral Asymmetry in Nature 5
for ranking the groups. Thus, a CH3 has a lower rank than CH2OH or
CH2CH3; similarly, the isotope D has a higher ranking than H. In Fig. 1.2,
the ranking is assumed to be R1 > R2 > R3 > R4. For such a molecule,
the “arrow” is defined as that pointing from the central carbon to the group
with the lowest rank, R4. The rotation direction is obtained from the three
highest ranking groups by moving from the highest to the lowest ranking
group, that is, R1 → R2 → R3. If this rotation and the arrow define a right-
handed helix, the molecule is classified as R; if the helix is left-handed, the
molecule is classified as S. It is possible that the two of the four groups, say
R1 and R2, are stereoisomers. In that case, the Cahn–Ingold–Prelog rules
specify a precise way of ranking the two groups. These rules may be found
in Ref. [9].
Before the Cahn–Ingold–Prelog rules were formulated, the terminology
for identifying the two enantiomers of a chiral molecule was based on opti-
cal rotation. Linearly polarized light of a particular wavelength undergoes
a rotation as it propagates through a solution or a crystal of a chiral com-
pound. A solution or solid that rotates linearly polarized light is said to be
optically active. In fact, the discovery of optical activity by the physicist Biot
in 1815 and Louis Pasteur’s insight that it was related to molecular asym-
metry gave us a general means to identify enantiomers. Consequently, the
handedness of a molecule was identified by its optical activity. If the light
was rotated clockwise as it approaches the viewer (Fig. 1.3), the solution
was designated “dextro-rotatory” or “+” and the enantiomer causing such a
rotation was called d-enantiomer; if the light rotated counter-clockwise, the
rotation was called “levo-rotatory” or “−” and the corresponding enantiomer
is called l-enantiomer. This designation does not give us the absolute mo-
lecular structure, that is, one cannot say which one of the two mirror-image
structures of the molecule gives rise to the observed optical rotation. In
fact, the optical rotation for a given compound depends on the wavelength
of the light and it can be dextro at one wavelength and levo at another.
Figure 1.3 Optical activity is the rotation of linearly polarized light as it passes through
the sample. As shown in the figure, if the direction of polarization rotates clockwise as
it approaches the viewer, the substance is dextro-rotatory and is designated “d” or “+”. If
the rotation is in counter-clockwise direction, the substance is levo-rotatory or “l”. or “−”.
Optical activity arises when the refractive indices of left- and right-circularly polarized
light are unequal.
Chiral Asymmetry in Nature 7
Figure 1.4 The terminology “l- and d-amino acids” refers to the geometric structure as
shown. Solutions of l-amino acids can be levo- or dextro-rotatory.
in which [R] and [S] are the concentrations of the two enantiomers. It is a
measure of asymmetry relative to the total amount of the substance, not an ab-
solute measure of the difference in the amount of R and S. As we shall see be-
low, in formulating a general theory of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking,
the difference ([R] − [S]) is mathematically more convenient to use than EE.
an absolute quantity and its value is therefore the same for both enantio-
morphs of the measure object”. An example of the degree of chirality is the
maximum amount of overlap between a chiral object and its enantiomer.
Clearly, in this measure, the degree of all achiral objects is zero and all chiral
objects is nonzero.
Only chiral objects can distinguish between the enantiomers of a chiral
molecule. Could we not define a measure of chirality on the basis of in-
teraction of reference chiral object with all chiral molecules? For example,
could we take optical rotation (at specified wavelength, temperature, and
other conditions) as a measure of chirality? This approach too has difficul-
ties because there are some chiral molecules [11] whose optical activity
is for all practical purposes immeasurable and there is no simple, reliable,
theoretical way to predict what it would be. Furthermore, a molecule that
is classified as “left-handed” on the basis of optical rotation with one achiral
solvent, may have to be classified as “right-handed” with another achiral
solvent which indicates that this notion of “left” and “right”, derived from
the interaction of the molecule with right- and left-circularly polarized
photons of a particular wavelength, is also dependent on the environment
and somewhat arbitrary.
Though there is no universal measure of chirality, it must be noted that
there are situations in which quantifying chirality could be extremely useful
in organizing and understanding chiral interactions [18–20].
Figure 1.5 Asymmetry in electro-weak interactions. The interaction between the elec-
tron and the nucleons depends on the electron helicity; the interaction energies of
the left- and right-helical electrons are unequal. Due to electro-weak interaction, the
ground-state energies of enantiomers are unequal.
basically two types of nuclear forces, which were termed, “strong” and
“weak” forces. The weak forces were responsible for β-radioactivity, while
the strong force was responsible for nuclear fission and fusion. Ever since
James Clerk Maxwell realized that the laws of electricity and magnetism
can be unified as “electromagnetic” laws, there has been a strong interest
among physicists to unify different forces. Einstein, for example, tried very
hard, but unsuccessfully, to unify gravity and electromagnetism. But the
search for unification of fundamental forces continues and one of its great
achievements is the unification of electromagnetic and weak forces, which
necessitated the coining of the term “electro-weak” force. The formula-
tors of the theory of electro-weak force, Steven Wienberg, Abdus Salam,
and Sheldon Glashow were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1979.
The exact nature of this unification is not important for us, but the chi-
ral asymmetry this unification revealed is. One of the predictions of the
electro-weak theory is that the electron interacts with the nucleons (par-
ticles in the nucleus, protons, and the neutrons) with a force that depends
on its helicity. Left- and right-helical electrons are acted upon by different
forces (Fig. 1.5). This fact brings the chiral asymmetry to the level of at-
oms, making them optically active. Atoms were thought to be spherically
symmetric entities with no chiral attributes until the electro-weak force
between the electron and the nucleons was discovered. A tube filled with
vapors of the element bismuth, for example, is found to be levo-rotatory
[22]. Due to electro-weak interactions we only find levo-bismuth in na-
ture, its mirror-image twin does not exist. The optical activity of atoms,
though very small, has been measured and found to be as predicted by
the electro-weak theory, of the order of 10−7 radians, depending on the
density of the vapor [22].
Chiral Asymmetry in Nature 13
Figure 1.6 An autocatalytic reaction scheme in which XL and XD have identical kinetic
rate laws. However, in an open system, this reaction gives rise to a state of broken sym-
metry in which the concentrations of XL and XD are unequal. Lower part of the figure
shows a “bifurcation diagram” used in describing the transitions to asymmetric states.
The parameter α = (XL − XD)/2 is a measure of the asymmetry. λ = [S][T], the product of
the concentrations of S and T, is the bifurcation parameter. When the value of λ exceeds
λC the system becomes unstable and makes a transition to an asymmetric state in which
α is not zero.
Chiral Asymmetry in Nature 17
for the evolution of the probability distribution P(α,t), called the Fokker–
Planck equation. We shall not discuss these mathematical details in this in-
troductory chapter but focus on the general theoretical aspects. Note that
the mirror symmetry of the chemical reactions is manifest in the general
equation (1.5) in that both α and –α are its solutions. When we consider
steady states (dα/dt = 0) if α = –α = 0, then the solution is symmetric; on
the other hand, if α ≠ 0, the system has two possible solutions, α and –α,
each representing a state of broken symmetry. For any chemical system that
is capable of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking, the general equation
of the form (1.5) can be derived using group theory, without reference to
particular details of the kinetic mechanism; in addition, general expressions
relating the coefficients A and B to the kinetic rate constants can be derived
[42]. This theory is similar to the Ginzberg–Landau theory of second-order
phase transitions.
dα
= Aα 3 + B( λ − λC )α + Cg + ε f (t ) (1.6)
dt
Figure 1.7 In the presence of a chiral influence that favors one enantiomer (here cor-
responding to α > 0), the bifurcation diagram in Fig. 1.6 is modified to the one shown
above. As λ increase from a value below λC to a value above λC, the system makes a tran-
sition to the favored upper branch with a higher probability. In this figure, a fluctuating
trajectory of α shows its evolution to the favored branch in which α > 0. This process
is very sensitive to small chiral influences. The probability of transition to the favored
branch is given by the formula (1.7).
At first sight, it might seem that if Cg ε then the effect of the chiral
interaction on P+ would be negligible. But a careful analysis shows that
the system could in fact be very sensitive to the chiral interaction even if
Cg ε [41]. Such sensitivity arises when the parameter λ sweeps through
the critical value, λC, from a subcritical to a supercritical value. Let us assume
that this sweep of λ happens at an average rate of γ, that is, λ = λ0 + γt in
which λ0 < λC and t is the time (Fig. 1.7). It turns out that the sensitivity of
the system to the chiral interaction, which is reflected in the deviation of P+
from 0.5, depends on the sweep rate γ. Lower values of γ make the system
more sensitive. The analytical expression for P+ in the presence of the chiral
interaction is [41]
14
1 N Cg π
∫
− x 2 /2
P+ = e d x in which N = (1.7)
2π −∞ ε / 2 Bγ
This result, which has been verified in electronic systems [43], shows
that even when Cg ε the value of P+ could be as high as 0.98 depend-
ing on the value of γ. The theory can also be generalized to symmetry
breaking transitions for symmetries other than the mirror symmetry [44].
The significance of this result is in what it implies for the relation be-
tween symmetry breaking at different levels. If symmetry breaking transi-
tions occur at various levels, the occurrence at one level might depend
very sensitively on a small asymmetry at a lower level. This type of theory
has the potential of revealing how asymmetries at various levels could be
Chiral Asymmetry in Nature 21
interconnected. Also, this theory is general enough that it applies at all levels,
wherever spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking occurs.
One of us has suggested the use of such theory in analyzing the higher-
level chiral asymmetries in macro molecules such as proteins [8]. A complex
chiral structure, such as a protein molecule could be analyzed in the follow-
ing way. We begin with identifying the basic chiral objects in the system. In
this case, the amino acids. To see the chirality at the next level, we replace
each basic chiral unit by an achiral unit such as a sphere. In this string of
spheres we now identify the basic chiral units. In the helical parts of the
protein, for example, we will see chirality at the next level, that is, in the
secondary structure. As is well-known, all the helices in proteins are right-
handed because the amino acids are all l-Enantiomers. Now the folding of
a string of spheres can itself be seen as a symmetry-breaking transition; the
folding can give rise to right- or left-handed helix with equal probability
if there is no chiral bias. In this transition, if we take into account that the
spheres represent l-amino acids, then there is a chiral bias arising from a
lower level and influencing the helices to go right-handed. From the above
theory, we may expect the transition to be a helix very sensitive to even
small chiral biases (in the case of l-amino acids, the bias is probably not
small). To identify the chirality at the next level, that is, at the level higher
than helices, we replace each of the helices by a cylinder and each of the
beta-sheets with a ribbon. In this string of cylinders and ribbons, we can
now identify basic chiral units depending on how this string folds. Thus,
the chirality of the protein can be seen at various levels and it might as well
show a systematic asymmetry at higher levels. If this is so, using the above
theory, or another appropriate theory, we can see how an asymmetry at one
level influences the next higher level.This gives us a way to understand how
asymmetry propagates from one structural level to another. It may well be
that in some macromolecules the asymmetry slowly vanishes at higher and
higher levels.
An interesting consequence of the theory of spontaneous chiral sym-
metry breaking is that it provides a relationship between the strength of
a chiral influence and the timescale at which it can influence a symme-
try breaking transition. By applying this theory we find, on a timescale of
15,000 years, electro-weak parity violation could influence the outcome of
a symmetry breaking process in a chemical system whose reactor volume
is 1 km × 1 km × 10 m. Thus, in the context of chemical evolution in the
oceans, such processes are relevant. Though there have been many sugges-
tions, at this time we do not have much understanding of when and what
22 Dilip Kondepudi
stage of life’s evolution chiral asymmetry arose. Hence, we can only say that
the possible link between the dominance of l-amino acids and electro-
weak asymmetry cannot be ruled out on the basis that the latter’s chemical
influence is too small. Our observation, however, is not a proof that such a
link exists.
Figure 1.8 Histogram of CEE in unstirred (a) and stirred (b) crystallization of NaClO3.
CEE = (Nl − Nd)/(Nl + Nd) in which Nl and Nd are levo- and dextro-rotatory crystals, respec-
tively Ref. [45]. In unstirred crystallization, the distribution is centered at zero but for
stirred crystallization it is bimodal with peaks close to ±1.
Chiral Asymmetry in Nature 23
Figure 1.9 Asymmetry generation in the synthesis of a Co-complex, Ref. [48]. The
distribution is not bimodal, but the large random EE shows the existence of chiral
autocatalysis.
crystallizations are performed. This was the first clear experimental demon-
stration of the phenomenon of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in
batch or a macroscopic scale and it is distinct from obtaining asymmetry in
crystallization due to chiral impurities. (The nucleation of a chiral crystal
could itself be thought of chiral symmetry breaking on a microscopic scale).
The details of the mechanism, the needed chiral autocatalysis and mutual
competition, were elaborated in our later studies [46,47]. Though a fun-
damental theory of the chirally autocatalytic nucleation in stirred systems
does not exist at this time, there are good empirical theories for this step of
the kinetics. Using one of these empirical rate laws, it is possible to simu-
late most of the experimental results through stochastic computer codes,
including the stochastic behavior such as the random variation of the CEE
as a function of the stirring rate [47].
The spontaneous symmetry breaking that was found in NaClO3 is not
an isolated phenomenon. Later work showed that this phenomenon is gen-
eral and can occur in several compounds; it also occurs in the crystallization
from a melt. Other similar chemical systems were also identified where the
first example of chiral autocatalysis at the molecular level has been dem-
onstrated in the synthesis of a chiral cobalt complex (Fig. 1.9) [48,49]. A
detailed discussion of these examples and related references can be found
in a review [50].
One of the key reaction steps in the generation of chiral asymmetry
is chiral autocatalysis. Chirally autocatalytic reactions are hard to find in
24 Dilip Kondepudi
organic reactions. Soai et al. have reported a family of such reactions which
are proven to be extremely sensitive to chiral influences [51–53]. Even very
small amount of initial asymmetry is greatly amplified in these reactions
[54–57]. In some cases, the sensitivity to even very small amounts of impu-
rities is so great it was found to be too difficult to eliminate it altogether in
the laboratory [58].
Spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking can also be observed in Lang-
muir monolayers [59] and in molecular aggregation [60]. In the aggrega-
tion of molecules, Ribo et al. [60] reported chiral selection induced by
vortex motion. They also reported that sensitivity to vorticity depended
on the rate at which the system sweeps through the aggregation point, a
feature predicted by the theory presented in Section 1.5. Purrello’s group
has reported influence of chiral additives on the assemblies of porphyrins
[61–63].The assemblies of porphyrins can be chiral though the porphyrins
themselves are not chiral molecules. Since this is a case of chiral symmetry
breaking, we could expect a very high degree of sensitivity to chiral influ-
ences during the process of assembly. Purrello’s group has demonstrated
that once a particular chirality is induced in the assembly by a chiral ad-
ditive, the assembly maintains its chiral structure if the chiral additive is
removed.
Fifteen years after the original discovery of chiral symmetry breaking
NaClO3 crystals by Kondepudi et al. [45], an interesting variation of chiral
symmetry breaking in NaClO3 was discovered by Viedma [64]. This sym-
metry breaking occurs in the solid-state. In this experiment, equal masses
of l- and d-crystals were ground into a powder and placed in a saturated
solution (so they do not dissolve). Then these crystals were continuously
ground by placing glass beads and magnetic stir-bar in the solution. After a
day of continuous stirring of this solid phase it was found that the crystals
converted to predominantly one chiral form or the other; the symmetry of
equal amounts of l- and d-crystals was broken by the grinding process. The
mechanism involves the dissolution of very small crystals (because solubility
increase for smaller crystals) and the growth of larger crystals [65,66].Theo-
retical modeling reveals intricacies of this process [67,68] that is so simple
to perform in the lab.
At this point it is fair to say that there is no dearth of examples of systems
that show chiral autocatalysis [69] and symmetry breaking, and we may
expect interesting applications of the sensitivity of such systems to chiral
influences in the future.
Chiral Asymmetry in Nature 25
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of undergraduate and graduate students and
postdoctoral fellows to the work presented in this chapter. This work was supported by NSF
(grant CHM-9527095) and by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
REFERENCES
[1] Hegstrom, R.; Kondepudi, D. K. The Handedness of the Universe. Sci. Am. 1990, 262,
108–115.
[2] Janoschek, R., Ed. Chirality: From the Weak Boson to the α-Helix; Springer-Verlag: New
York, NY, 1991.
26 Dilip Kondepudi
“All we ought to ask”; missionary life with its labours, cares and
anxieties, often in an exhausting climate; its frequent and sore
disappointments, its loneliness, the separation from friends and
children, and the special call sometimes to new and untried spheres
of duty; its sense of heavy responsibility in having to stand practically
alone, at the head of a band of native helpers, and to be expected to
supply enthusiasm for everybody about him—these, the necessary
and unavoidable trials, are the legitimate means of denying himself;
and they afford infinite scope for useful, holy service, and they are
quite enough, without going further afield, like Don Quixote, in
search of more.
I trust my readers will bear with me whilst I give the details of
some cases I have known, where honoured brethren and sisters
have felt moved to attempt the ascetic method, in order that we may
observe how it works.
I knew a pious devoted missionary of another Society. He was a
man of decidedly ascetic life. One of the ordinary diseases of the
country, not generally fatal, assailed him. His constitution, in the
opinion of those best able to judge, was so weakened by his ascetic
life that he could not rally, but died in the prime of life. Humanly
speaking, he died before his time, and one fails to see that his death
constitutes any adequate object lesson, to compensate for the loss
of his active usefulness. A missionary’s continued and useful life
ought to be a much greater benefit to a country than the deposit of
his remains in the soil, and the example of a living worker is surely
more influential than the memory of one departed.
I knew a missionary and his wife, earnest, devoted, exceedingly
kind to the people, and successful. From the first of their settling in
the country, their asceticism was so marked that their friends, who
saw it, pleaded with them to eat more food and better food, but in
vain. Being new to the country, they did not know the risks they ran.
After barely two years of earnest work, ill health compelled their
retirement from the field, with scarcely any prospect of ever
returning. And yet there was no kind of necessity for them to live
thus. They appeared to think there was some virtue in self-denial of
this type, merely for its own sake.
Another case of the same kind was that of an unmarried
missionary lady, with a strong natural tendency to asceticism. She
was an able and diligent missionary, and well acquainted with the
language. After some years of missionary life, the tendency grew
upon her to such an extent, that she withdrew more and more from
association with her own people, lived with none but natives, on
native food, and broke off one comfort after another, until even bread
was too much of a luxury! After a year or eighteen months of this
ascetic life, her health broke down so completely that she had to
return home to America or die.
One of our brethren in India has told us his story of a similar
attempt. It was a sense of duty that urged him to come down to
native diet, native dress, and general mode of life; and very loyally to
this sense of duty did he persevere for many months. But, to his
infinite sorrow, he found that instead of bringing him any nearer to
the people, it seemed only to increase the distance; for it aroused
their suspicions as to his motives for doing so. He found at length
that he could have reached them better if he had moved amongst
them in the ordinary way. But meanwhile the penalty of all this had
come; his health so completely broke down, clearly in consequence
of this method of living, that he had to leave India, and now for
several years he has been laid aside completely in England, unable
to do any regular work. He is the victim of an honest, and very
persistent, but mistaken attempt to live an ascetic missionary life.
As regards the wearing of the native dress, it has often been
assumed that to do so must needs place a missionary more in touch
with the natives. But in India it is not found that such is really the
case. With the exception of the Salvation Army, this is the only case
in India where I ever heard of its being attempted, and it had quite
the contrary effect. I have heard that a venerable missionary once
tried it in Burma, but the peals of laughter that greeted his
appearance in the streets instantly convinced him that he could gain
nothing by that method. There are probably cases where it is
advisable, and even almost necessary, to assume the dress of the
country. Each case should be judged upon its own merits, and it
greatly depends what kind of a dress it is. In India and Burma they
like to see the man be himself, and they respect you for keeping to
the customs you have been brought up with.
The following is a faithful account of an heroic, but ill-judged
and disastrous, missionary enterprise in Burma, in substance
as I had it from the lips of one of the survivors, who paid me a
visit in Mandalay, a few of the particulars being supplied by
another missionary well acquainted with the facts. I wish that
all my readers could have heard the touchingly simple recital,
and witnessed the gentle and refined Christian bearing of this
excellent brother. It is the narrative of a small mission, sent
out by evangelical Christians in Denmark to the Red Karens,
an independent tribe of demon worshippers, dwelling in
Karennee, on the eastern frontier of Burma. My informant is a
Dane. It will be observed that the bane of the whole enterprise
was the ascetic idea, imbibed at home, and in this case
carried out to the bitter end. The case serves to show also
what a formidable difficulty to foreign evangelism we have in
the mere matter of the climate.
Near the close of 1884, two young men, Danish
missionaries, Hans Polvsen and Hans Jansen, arrived in
Burma, with the purpose of establishing this mission. On their
arrival they looked the very picture of health. They had both
been inured to hard work from their youth, and they were
devout men, and entirely given up to work for the Master.
Though receiving aid at first from home, they hoped soon to
make the mission self-supporting. They therefore undertook
to do all the manual labour themselves. Where others rode
they would walk. Where others employed natives they would
do their own work. They would cook their own food, and live
in the simplest manner, even like the natives of the land. Had
the sphere of their mission been the wilds of America, or any
country at all similar in climate to their native Denmark, it
would have been the right policy, and they might have
succeeded. But they soon had painful proof that there are
laws in Nature, from which even missionaries are not exempt;
and one of these laws is that we cannot do with impunity in
the tropics what we may do in the temperate zone.
Some time after their arrival, an opportunity occurred for
going into Karennee, and they prepared to start for their
destination. By way of preparation they gave away all their
extra goods, medicines, clothing, etc., fancying that Matthew
x. encouraged such a course. We cannot but place in contrast
this conduct with that of a man like Livingstone. His was a
self-denying work, if ever there was one; he believed in doing
the work God called him to do, no matter what difficulties
stood in the way. But he was no believer in asceticism—i.e.,
needless suffering for suffering’s own sake. He relates in his
“Last Journals” how, when he found his medicine chest was
hopelessly lost, through the carelessness of a native carrier,
he felt as if his death warrant were sealed. But these people
thought it right to give away their medicines and goods on
leaving the confines of civilisation. Before leaving Toungoo
they were faithfully warned by experienced missionaries of
the American Baptist Mission, that such a course as they
were entering upon, at the beginning of the rains, was
exceedingly hazardous; but their notions of trust in
Providence prevented them from paying any heed to this
counsel.
They reached Karennee, after a rough journey over the
mountains and through the jungles, and proceeded at once to
put up for themselves a house, and establish the mission
according to their ideas. It is difficult for any one not knowing
the country to conceive how hard their lot would be. Their
sufferings were extreme. Hard work and exposure, together
with poor food, and only the shelter of a bamboo house, that
afforded no proper protection from the pitiless rains, and
damp, cold blasts, soon broke down their health. Fever, the
great bane of tropical malarious regions, soon found them
out. Hans Polvsen died before the rains were over, and
Jansen was brought into Toungoo by the American Baptist
missionaries, more dead than alive, and kindly nursed and
brought round. A new party from Denmark now reached
Toungoo, consisting of Knudsen, his wife, and Miss Jansen,
the sister of Hans, and the four set out for Karennee. Here the
former experiences were renewed; for the party had not yet
learnt wisdom, even by such terrible sufferings. Soon they
were all very ill. Miss Jansen died: after that a babe, born to
the Knudsens after reaching Karennee, was also taken. The
stricken father had to get up from his sick-bed to make the
coffins. They could get no meat, no bread, no milk, none of
the ordinary comforts of civilised life, nothing but an inferior
kind of rice, which they could not eat when sick, and which no
European could thrive and work upon, even in health. Jansen
was warned by an English doctor passing through the place
with troops, that he must get away from Burma, or he would
soon die. He went to Toungoo again, recovered a little, and,
against the earnest advice of the doctor there, who warned
him that he went at the peril of his life, he determined to start
on a third journey for their chosen mission field. But he never
again entered Karennee. On reaching the foot of the great
mountain range, he seated himself beneath the shade of a
beautiful arching clump of bamboos, and there breathed out
his devoted life. It is characteristic of the popular, but false
ideal of the missionary life entertained by many people at
home, that, as my informant put it,—for by that time his eyes
were opened to see the matter in its true light,—“They were
inclined to make more of the ‘heroism’ of that unwise act of
returning, and dying on the way, than they would if he had
fulfilled a long career of useful service.”
The Knudsens became so completely broken down in
health that they too were compelled to leave Karennee. Thus
this little mission, begun with the highest of motives and
carried on with quenchless, self-sacrificing, prayerful zeal,
was entirely and hopelessly wrecked, through its adherence
to ascetic principles, and had to be finally abandoned, after
five years of heroic, but utterly wasted, labour and suffering,
and without any appreciable impression being produced upon
the natives of that region.
I shall naturally be asked, “What then about those larger
missionary organisations, in different parts of the world, that put
asceticism (not economy) avowedly in the forefront, as one of their
leading principles?” Well, I will only say of them, in brief, that where it
is asceticism as defined above, and not mere economy, facts and
experiences have proved that, in the tropics, it has resulted in a far
heavier death-rate, in far more total or partial failures of health, and,
as human nature has its limits of endurance, in a considerable
addition to the numbers in the column headed “retired from the
work.” A proper deduction made from the working strength of such
missions, on account of these non-effectives, would show, perhaps,
that the cheapness supposed to be attained, is more apparent than
real.
On one occasion it was pointed out to the great Napoleon that he
was losing a great many men in a battle; he is credited with the
cynical reply, “You cannot have omelettes without breaking eggs.” In
like manner one at least of these organisations has said boldly, “You
cannot have a war without losing soldiers.”
True; but if the greater part of this loss is clearly needless and
preventible, and if it is the result of want of proper provision being
made, and through the neglect of proper precautions of the most
ordinary kind—then even the sacredness of the purpose does not
justify the recklessness of the methods.