Spontaneous absolute asymmetric synthesis is a chemical phenomenon that ''

stochastic Stochastic (, ) refers to the property of being well described by a random probability distribution. Although stochasticity and randomness are distinct in that the former refers to a modeling approach and the latter refers to phenomena themselv ...

ally'' generates

chirality Chirality is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is distinguishable from ...

based on autocatalysis and small fluctuations in the ratio of

enantiomer In chemistry, an enantiomer ( /ɪˈnænti.əmər, ɛ-, -oʊ-/ ''ih-NAN-tee-ə-mər''; from Ancient Greek ἐνάντιος ''(enántios)'' 'opposite', and μέρος ''(méros)'' 'part') – also called optical isomer, antipode, or optical ant ...

s present in a

racemic mixture In chemistry, a racemic mixture, or racemate (), is one that has equal amounts of left- and right-handed enantiomers of a chiral molecule or salt. Racemic mixtures are rare in nature, but many compounds are produced industrially as racemates. ...

.Tsuneomi Kawasaki, Kenta Suzuki, Masako Shimizu, Keisuke Ishikawa and Kenso Soai, ''Chirality'', Volume 18, Issue 7, pages 479–482, 2006, In certain reactions which initially do not contain

chiral information Chirality is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is distinguishable from i ...

, stochastically distributed

enantiomeric excess In stereochemistry, enantiomeric excess (ee) is a measurement of purity used for chiral substances. It reflects the degree to which a sample contains one enantiomer in greater amounts than the other. A racemic mixture has an ee of 0%, while a sin ...

can be observed. The phenomenon is different from chiral amplification, where enantiomeric excess is present from the beginning and not stochastically distributed. Hence, when the experiment is repeated many times, the average enantiomeric excess approaches 0%.Kenta Suzuki, Kunihiko Hatase, Daisuke Nishiyama, Tsuneomi Kawasaki, Kenso Soai, ''Journal of Systems Chemistry'' 2010, 1:5 (18 August 2010), The phenomenon has important implications concerning the origin of homochirality in nature.{{cite journal , journal= Highlights in Chemical Science , year= 2008 , issue= 5 , url= http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemScience/Volume/2008/05/Kenso_Soai_interview.asp , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160326010333/http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemScience/Volume/2008/05/Kenso_Soai_interview.asp , url-status= dead , archive-date= March 26, 2016 , title= Interview: In the beginning... , accessdate=June 18, 2014

References

Stereochemistry Biological processes Origin of life