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  • A laboratory model of a prebiotic, spontaneous, and continuous enantiomeric enrichment process.

A laboratory model of a prebiotic, spontaneous, and continuous enantiomeric enrichment process.

Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (2013-01-25)
Stanley I Goldberg
ABSTRACT

Construction and operation of a laboratory model, which combines the lately discovered enantioenrichment method of the author (2007) with the sun-powered evaporative pumping process of Hsu and Siegenthaler (Sedimentology 12:11-25 1969), is described. The model operated continuously for 120 days before it was intentionally shut down, even though it could have continued. During that time it raised the enantiomeric excess of the test material by a factor of 3.6. Implications of these results on the origin of biohomochirality are discussed.

MATERIALS
Product Number
Brand
Product Description

Sigma-Aldrich
(+)-2,3-Dibenzoyl-D-tartaric acid, ≥99.0% (T)
Sigma-Aldrich
(+)-2,3-Dibenzoyl-D-tartaric acid, ≥98%, made from synthetic tartaric acid
Sigma-Aldrich
Dibenzoyl-L-tartaric acid, 98%