Chiral Induced Spin Selectivity and Its Implications for Biological Functions

Chirality in life has been preserved throughout evolution. It has been assumed that the main function of chirality is its contribution to structural properties. In the past two decades, however, it has been established that chiral molecules possess unique electronic properties. Electrons that pass through chiral molecules, or even charge displacements within a chiral molecule, do so in a manner that depends on the electron's spin and the molecule's enantiomeric form. This effect, referred to as chiral induced spin selectivity (CISS), has several important implications for the properties of biosystems. Among these implications, CISS facilitates long-range electron transfer, enhances bio-affinities and enantioselectivity, and enables efficient and selective multi-electron redox processes. In this article, we review the CISS effect and some of its manifestations in biological systems. We argue that chirality is preserved so persistently in biology not only because of its structural effect, but also because of its important function in spin polarizing electrons. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Biophysics, Volume 51 is May 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Transferrable Selectivity Profiles Enable Prediction in Synergistic Catalyst Space

Organometallic intermediates participate in many multi-catalytic enantioselective transformations directed by a chiral catalyst, but the requirement of optimizing two catalyst components is a significant barrier to widely adopting this approach for chiral molecule synthesis. Algorithms can potentially accelerate the screening process by developing quantitative structure-function relationships from large experimental datasets. However, the chemical data available in this catalyst space is limited. We report a data-driven strategy that effectively translates selectivity relationships trained on enantioselectivity outcomes derived from one catalyst reaction systems where an abundance of data exists, to synergistic catalyst space. We describe three case studies involving different modes of catalysis (Brønsted acid, chiral anion, and secondary amine) that substantiate the prospect of this approach to predict and elucidate selectivity in reactions where more than one catalyst is involved. Ultimately, the success in applying our approach to diverse areas of asymmetric catalysis implies that this general workflow should find broad use in the study and development of new enantioselective, multi-catalytic processes.

Through a Glass Darkly—Some Thoughts on Symmetry and Chemistry

This article reviews the development of concepts of chirality in chemistry. The story follows the parallel development of the optical properties of materials and the understanding of chemical structure until the two are fused in the recognition of the tetrahedral carbon atom in 1874. The different types of chiral molecule that have been identified since the first concept of the asymmetric carbon atom are introduced as is the notation used in various disciplines of chemistry to describe the relative or absolute configuration. In the final section, a polemical case for a unified nomenclature is presented.

Site-specific interrogation of an ionic chiral fragment during photolysis using an X-ray free-electron laser

Short-wavelength free-electron lasers with their ultrashort pulses at high intensities have originated new approaches for tracking molecular dynamics from the vista of specific sites. X-ray pump X-ray probe schemes even allow to address individual atomic constituents with a ‘trigger’-event that preludes the subsequent molecular dynamics while being able to selectively probe the evolving structure with a time-delayed second X-ray pulse. Here, we use a linearly polarized X-ray photon to trigger the photolysis of a prototypical chiral molecule, namely trifluoromethyloxirane (C3H3F3O), at the fluorine K-edge at around 700 eV. The created fluorine-containing fragments are then probed by a second, circularly polarized X-ray pulse of higher photon energy in order to investigate the chemically shifted inner-shell electrons of the ionic mother-fragment for their stereochemical sensitivity. We experimentally demonstrate and theoretically support how two-color X-ray pump X-ray probe experiments with polarization control enable XFELs as tools for chiral recognition.

Crystal structure of levocetirizine dihydrochloride Form I, C21H27ClN2O3Cl2

The crystal structure of levocetirizine dihydrochloride Form I has been solved and refined using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data and optimized using density functional techniques. Levocetirizine dihydrochloride Form I apparently crystallizes in space group P21/n (#14) with a = 24.1318(21), b = 7.07606(9), c = 13.5205(7) Å, β = 97.9803(4)°, V = 2286.38(12) Å3, and Z = 4. The crystal structure consists of interleaved double columns of cations and anions along the short b-axis. The hydrogen bonds link the cations and anions along this axis. Each protonated nitrogen atom forms a strong N–H⋯Cl hydrogen bond to one of the chloride anions. The carboxylic acid group also forms an H-bond to Cl56, resulting in a ring with a graph set R1,2(10). The centrosymmetric P21/n model for the crystal structure of levocetirizine dihydrochloride is better than the non-centrosymmetric P21 model, even though levocetirizine is a chiral molecule; the sample exhibits weak second-harmonic generation, and three weak peaks which violate the glide plane are observed. The centrosymmetric model is better by statistical, graphical, and energetic measures, as well as by chemical reasonableness. To accommodate the chiral molecule in a centrosymmetric space group, the chiral central carbon atom was disordered over two half-occupied positions, so that each cation site could be occupied by a cation of the correct chirality. A powder pattern from a Le Bail extraction of this synchrotron data set is included in the Powder Diffraction File™ as entry 00-066-1627.