A new twist in eutectic composition: deracemization of a racemic compound amino acid by Viedma ripening and temperature fluctuation.

26 August 2021, Version 3
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

Viedma ripening and temperature fluctuation are processes based on solution phase racemization and dissolution-growth of racemic or scalemic conglomerates resulting in solid-phase deracemization. The dissolution-growth process is performed by abrasive grinding in the first case and by the temperature fluctuation in the second. But both methods have the intrinsic drawback of being only applicable to conglomerates, accounting for only 10% of all chiral molecules and are not suitable for the 90% of chiral compounds that crystallize as racemic compound. Herein we show that the enantiomeric excess of the solution in the eutectic mixture formed by a racemic compound and one of its enantiomers in suspension changes dramatically by growth-dissolution of the crystals through grinding and temperature fluctuation, converting the racemic compound into the desired enantiomer. With this new finding the scope of Viedma ripening and temperature fluctuation could be significantly expanded and can shed new ideas about the origin of biological homochirality on earth.

Keywords

Amino acid
Chirality
Deracemization
Temperature Fluctuation
Viedma Ripening

Supplementary materials

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Experiment working
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A nucleation-growth process can be seen in the neck of the flask due to the sudden change in temperature
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