Advances in BioChirality

Description

Every chemist working with chiral compounds and also every biologist has obviously already asked the question: "How did the molecular and macroscopic homochirality of biological systems evolve starting from a racemic prebiological world? And furthermore, how perfect is this homochirality and what are its general consequences?" This book which is based on the contributions presented at an international symposium on biological homochirality offers the first comprehensive review of these fundamental questions of biochirality. It is a real gold mine of ideas for further research to everybody interested in this very far-reaching subject including chemists, biologists, physicists, geologists and even cosmochemists. László Markó, University of Veszprem, HungaryContent: Preface, Pages 1-2, Claudio BartolacelliChapter 2 - Dimensions of Biological Homochirality, Pages 3-12, Gyula Pályi, Claudia Zucchi, Luciano CagliotiChapter 3 - Chirality Algebra and the Right-Left Classification Problem, Pages 13-34, R.B. KingChapter 4 - Theory of Biological Homochirality: Chirality, Symmetry Deficiency, and Electron-Cloud Holography in the Shape Analysis of Biomolecules, Pages 35-46, Paul G. MezeyChapter 5 - On the Biological Advantage of Chirality, Pages 47-68, Gideon GilatChapter 6 - Origin of Biological Homochirality: Directed Selection or Random Motion?, Pages 69-83, Vladik A. AvetisovChapter 7 - Possible Mechanisms for Spontaneous Production of Enantiomeric Excess, Pages 85-97, David Z. Lippmann, Julio DixChapter 8 - Search for the Origin of Homochirality of Biomolecules, Pages 99-103, Lajos KeszthelyiChapter 9 - The Role of Homochirality in Evolution, Pages 105-114, Zhao NanshengChapter 10 - A New Method for Testing Models of Prebiotic Peptide Assembly, Pages 115-123, Melanie Bengtson, Eric D. EdstromChapter 11 - Asymmetric Autocatalysis and Biomolecular Chirality, Pages 125-136, Kenso Soai, Takanori ShibataChapter 12 - Left-Right Asymmetry in Animal Embryogenesis, Pages 137-152, Michael LevinChapter 13 - Evolutionary Origin of Asymmetry in Early Metazoan Animals, Pages 153-190, Jerzy DzikChapter 14 - Chirality in Charophytes: Stability and Evolution from 400 Million Years to Present, Pages 191-207, Ingeborg Soulié-MärscheChapter 15 - Application of Amino Acid Racemization in Fossil Pleistocene Vertebrate and Invertebrate Analysis. Preservation of Proteins and Amino Acids, Pages 209-229, Trinidad de TorresChapter 16 - Biomarker Reaction Kinetics during Kerogen Microscale Pyrolysis, Pages 231-246, Geoffrey D. Abbott, Andrew W. ScottChapter 17 - Aspartic Acid Racemization in the Dentine of Bears (Ursus etruscus G. Cuvier, Ursus prearctos, Boule, Ursus deningeri von Reichenau and Ursus spelaeus Rosenmüller-Heinroth). Tooth Dentine Amino Acids Versus Mollusca Amino Acids, Pages 247-256, T. de Torres, J.F. Llamas, L. Canoira, P. García-AlonsoChapter 18 - The Abiotic Generation of Homochirality on Saturn's Moon Titan, Pages 257-270, J.I. Lunine, J. Beauchamp, M.A. Smith, E. NikolaevChapter 19 - d-Amino Acids in Nature, Pages 271-283, Yoko NagataChapter 20 - Racemization-induced Defolding and Aggregation of Segments of β-amyloid Protein: An Early Step in the Formation of Amyloid Plaques, Pages 285-295, Zs. Majer, E. Láng, E. Vass, S. Szabó, B. Hallgas, M. HollósiChapter 21 - Occurrence and Biosynthesis of Animal Peptides Containing a d-Amino Acid, Pages 297-304, Günther KreilChapter 22 - Spontaneous d-Aspartic Acid Formation at Specific Sites of Lens Protein During Aging, Pages 305-313, Noriko Fujii, Yuko Momose, Mitsuhiko AkaboshiChapter 23 - Asymmetric Phenomena in Studies of encapsulation and Assembly, Pages 315-324, Julius Rebek JrChapter 24 - Self-assembly of Cholesteric Liquid crystal Polyesters and their Stereoselective Interaction with Liposomes of DMPC, Pages 325-334, Mercedes Pérez-Mendez, Fayos José, C. Reyes MateoChapter 25 - Transferring Chirality in Homogeneous Catalysis, Pages 335-345, Paul S. PregosinChapter 26 - Chiral Genetics of Drugs and Related Compounds, Pages 347-360, Béla NoszálChapter 27 - Chiroptical Properties of (S)-(−) Methyl Glycolate-d1, Pages 361-366, Arrigo Forni, Irene Moretti, Fabio Prati, Giovanni TorreChapter 28 - Experimental Evidences for Parity Violating Energy Differences Between Enantiomers, Pages 367-376, Andrea Szabó-Nagy, L. KeszthelyiChapter 29 - On the Stabilization of Natural l-α-Amino Acids and d-Sugars via Parity-Violating Effects, Pages 377-385, Riccardo Zanasi, Paolo Lazzeretti, Andrea Ligabue, Alessandro SonciniChapter 30 - Radiodecomposition of d,l-Aspartic Acid by Tritium-β-Rays, Pages 387-392, Mitsuhiko Akaboshi, Kenichi Kawai, Yoshiko Tanaka, Noriko FujiiSubject Index, Pages 393-407