Abstract
Spontaneous production of optically active compounds can occur through kinetic instability of an asymmetric steady state in open systems, in which two enantiomeric autocatalysts compete for a common prochiral substrate in a stereoselective reaction of order n<2. For the case of n=3, a proof of instability of a symmetric reacting state in the general case, and functions of reaction parameters (‘Chemical Reynolds Numbers’) governing the existence and stability of 7 different steady states are derived. The ‘extinct state’ (without autocatalyst) is stable; a finite amount of products is required to shift it into one of the reacting steady states. A mutation from one state into another in such systems (‘bioids’) involves an amplification of different ‘kinds of information’, as ‘stochastic’ (noise into dissipative structures), ‘molecular’ (autocatalysts), and ‘stoichiometric’ information. Stereospecific third order kinetics are believed to be realizable on octahedral metal complexes with two-dentated ligands and to have played a role in the prebiological evolution of optically active compounds.
V: Bioids; IV: Decker (1973b); III: Decker (1973a); II: Decker et al. (1971); I: Decker and Speidel (1972)
For Professor A. Butenandt on his 70th birthday.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Babloyantz, Agnessa: 1972, Biopolymers 11, 2349.
Cesari, L.: 1971 Asymptotic Behavior and Stability Problems in Ordinary Differential Equations, Springer Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, p. 24.
Decker, P.: 1973a, Nature, New Biology 241, 72.
Decker, P.: 1973b, J. Molecular Evolution, in press.
Decker, P. and Speidel, A.: 1968, Nordwestdeutsche Chemiedozententagung, Hamburg, April 1968; cf. P. Decker, 6th FEBS Meeting, Madrid, April 1969, Abstracts Vol., p 146.
Decker, P. and Speidel, A.: 1972 Zeitschr. Naturforschung27b 257
Decker, P., Speidel, A., and Nicolai, W.: 1971, I. Europ. Biophysics Congr., Proceedings, Vienna, Vol. IV, p. 515.
Eigen, M.: 1971, Naturwissenschaften 58, 465. Frank, F. C.: 1953, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 11, 459.
Glansdorff, P. and Prigogine, I.: 1971, Structure, Stability and Fluctuations, Wiley, London.
Havinga, E.: 1954, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 13, 171.
Jordan, P.: 1944, Naturwissenschaften 32, 309.
Pasteur, L.: 1848, Compt. Rand. Acad. Sei. 26 535
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1974 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Decker, P. (1974). Evolution in Bioids: Hypercompetitivity as a Source of Bistability and a Possible Role of Metal Complexes as Prenucleoprotic Mediators of Molecular Asymmetry. In: Oró, J., Miller, S.L., Ponnamperuma, C., Young, R.S. (eds) Cosmochemical Evolution and the Origins of Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2282-8_24
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2282-8_24
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-2284-2
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-2282-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive