Lipid aggregates inducing symmetry breaking in prebiotic polymerisations.
It is a long-standing and still open problem to determine the origin of biomolecular homochirality, and many scenarios have been suggested. Amphiphilic molecules are renowned for their capability to reorganize themselves in a variety of different morphologies and topologies, and for their capability to partition chemicals in well defined domains. Here a possible role for amphiphilic molecules inducing symmetry breaking is suggested in the framework of the research on origin of life.
Piotto
Stefano
S
Institute for Inorganic Chemistry, ETH Hoenggerberg, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 10, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland. piotto@inorg.chem.ethz.ch
D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D000069497:Origin of Life; D013237:Stereoisomerism
D001704:Biopolymers; D008055:Lipids