title: Chirality amplification--the accumulation principle revisited.
abstract: The chirality amplification mechanism proposed by Yamagata in 1966, relying on an Accumulation Principle which involved the parity violating energy difference (1 + epsilon) presumed to be operative at each step in the formation of a homochiral biopolymer, is briefly surveyed historically. The Accumulation Principle is then examined analytically and found to be incapable of producing a unique homochiral polymer in any realistic polymerization process. The extension of the Accumulation Principle to crystallizations which afford enantiomorphic crystals is also scrutinized and found to be misapplied and invalid.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Bonner
mesh_terms: D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization; D007700:Kinetics; D008956:Models, Chemical; D013237:Stereoisomerism
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers