Origin of Chirality in the Molecules of Life

TL;DR

This paper explores how weak nuclear interactions and metal ions could have contributed to the origin of molecular chirality in early life, focusing on the RNA World hypothesis and autocatalytic reactions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that weak interactions, combined with metal ion catalysis, can induce enantiomeric excess in prebiotic chemistry, offering a plausible explanation for life's homochirality.

Findings

Weak interactions can differentiate enantiomers over geological timescales.

Metal ions like calcium enhance enantiomeric selectivity.

Autocatalytic reactions can propagate initial chiral bias.

Abstract

Molecular chirality is inherent to biology and cellular chemistry. In this report, the origin of enantiomeric selectivity is analyzed from the viewpoint of the "RNA World" model, based on the autocatalytic self-replication of glyceraldehyde as a precursor for simple sugars, and in particular ribose, as promoted by the formose reaction. Autocatalytic coupling of formaldehyde and glycolaldehyde produces glyceraldehyde, which contains a chiral carbon center that is carried through in formation of the ribose ring. The parity non-conserving weak interaction is the only inherently handed property in nature and is herein shown to be sufficient to differentiate between two enantiomeric forms in an autocatalytic reaction performed over geologically relevant time scales, but only in the presence of a catalytic metal ion such as divalent calcium or higher Z alkaline earth elements. This work details calculations of the magnitude of the effect, the impact of various geologically-available metal ions, and the influence on evolution and dominance of chirality in the molecules of life.