Chiral symmetry breaking

•  
•  
• Printable version

The optical rotatory dispersion of a levorotatory (left) and a dextrorotatory (right) crystal of ethylenediamine sulphate

The intriguing topic of molecular asymmetry has captured the interest of many scientists since the second half of the nineteenth century. Recent experiments in our laboratory have shown that under a continuous and dynamic dissolution-crystallization process, a racemic population of ethylenediamine sulfate crystals can be driven into crystals of a single handedness (i.e. stochastic chiral symmetry breaking).