Molecular Handedness and the Origins of Chiral Discrimination

Abstract

The development of the conception of handedness in the physical world is outlined, culminating with the views of Pasteur on the role of chiral structures and dissymmetric forces in nature. The evolution is traced of the general conclusion that steric congruence dominates chiral discrimination in biochemical enantioselection, asymmetric organic synthesis, the crystal structures of enantiomers and racemates, and the distinction between homochiral and heterochiral interactions in the fluid state. The significance of the unification of the electromagnetic with the weak interaction is discussed with reference to the proposed universality of optical activity, and of the particular terrestrial enantioselection observed in natural products.