Mechanistic studies of asymmetric amplification in the Soai autocatalytic reaction

摘要

The origin of biological homochirality from a prebiotic achiral environment is a topic that has been fascinating many scientists since the importance of L-amino acids and D-sugars was recognized. The discovery of the asymmetric amplification in the autocatalytic alkylation of pyrimidyl aldehyde with diisopropylzinc (Soai and co-workers [1], 1995) provided the experimental confirmation of Frank's theoretical rationalization of autocatalysis as mechanism for the evolution of homochirality from a racemic environment (Frank [2], 1953). Understanding the mechanism under which the amplification of ee is obtained in the Soai system (Scheme 1) could serve as a mechanistic model to help us understand the origin of biological homochirality.