Descoberta apoia o modelo da causa da homoquiralidade da dupla hélice de DNA

sábado, setembro 20, 2014

Chirally Sensitive Electron-Induced Molecular Breakup and the Vester-Ulbricht Hypothesis

Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 118103 – Published 12 September 2014

J. M. Dreiling and T. J. Gay

Dr. Joan M. Dreiling and Dr. Timothy J. Gay with a sculpture of a DNA molecule on display in UNL's Beadle Center for Biotechnology. Source/Fonte: Phys.org

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-09-dna-right-handed-helix.html#jCp


ABSTRACT

We have studied dissociative electron attachment in sub-eV collisions between longitudinally polarized electrons and chiral bromocamphor molecules. For a given target enantiomer, the dissociative Br anion production depends on the helicity of the incident electrons, with an asymmetry that depends on the electron energy and is of order 3×10−4. The existence of chiral sensitivity in a well-defined molecular breakup reaction demonstrates the viability of the Vester-Ulbrict hypothesis, namely, that the longitudinal polarization of cosmic beta radiation was responsible for the origins of biological homochirality.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.118103

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