Energetic stabilization of d-camphor via weak neutral currents.
It is shown via a series of numerical tests on the camphor molecule, C10H16O, that the naturally occurring d-enantiomer is energetically stabilized with respect to its mirror image by electroweak force. The calculated energy difference between enantiomers, about 1.5 x 10(-19) hartree, is roughly eight orders of magnitude smaller than the upper bound suggested by available spectroscopic investigations on the frequency of a spectroscopic transition. However, such a difference is about ten times larger than previous estimates of parity-violating energy contributions reported in the literature for other chiral molecules, which makes the idea of electroweak stabilization of one enantiomer more reliable than expected before.
Lazzeretti
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Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi, via G. Campi 183, 41100 Modena, Italy. lazzeret@unimo.it
Zanasi
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Faglioni
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D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D002164:Camphor / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015233:Models, Statistical; D013816:Thermodynamics
D002164:Camphor