The effect of parity violation on kinetic models of enantioselective autocatalysis

Abstract

A detailed analysis of enantioselective autocatalytic reaction models is carried out using both deterministic and stochastic approaches. The models include the small differences between the total energies of enantiomers (ΔE_PV ∼10⁻¹³ J mol⁻¹) that arise due to parity violation. Different possible orders of autocatalysis are considered, and the reasons why the predictions of the stochastic and deterministic approaches are different under certain conditions are explored. The continuous time discrete state (CDS) stochastic approach is clearly superior to the deterministic approach. It is concluded that the small difference between enantiomers caused by ΔE_PV cannot be amplified under conditions reasonable for the generation of biological chirality. It also seems highly unlikely that biological chirality was determined by any intrinsic difference between enantiomers.