This book provides an interdisciplinary review of one of the great unsolved mysteries that has fascinated scientists for over 150 years: the origin of chirality in biomolecules. It is fundamental, comprehensive and structured to be accessible for educational purposes.

This book provides an interdisciplinary review of one of the great unsolved mysteries that has fascinated scientists for over 150 years: the origin of chirality in biomolecules. Current advances in fields as diverse as space exploration, prebiotic chemistry and high-energy physics may help to provide an answer. Important pieces of information will come from observations at the two frontiers of science: outer space and the subatomic world. Observation of distant planets, galaxies, and even actual sampling of celestial objects from beyond the solar system are projects currently underway. At the other end of the spectrum, there are experiments that study the elemental properties of matter, such as symmetry, and interactions with the fundamental forces. Completely revised and updated this new edition once again unifies all the theories of the origin of biomolecular homochirality together in a single source. This complete, interdisciplinary review of an intriguing subject condenses a large and disparate range of contributions from journals in almost every scientific field. The various theories have been organized, interrelated and explained in a unified way. It is fundamental, comprehensive and structured to be accessible for educational purposes.

This book provides an interdisciplinary review of one of the great unsolved mysteries that has fascinated scientists for over 150 years: the origin of chirality in biomolecules. It was Pasteur who first initiated the search for a deterministic theory to explain the 'handedness' of biomolecules. His theory, that a 'dissimetric' force was involved, was correct in essence but he never saw the fruits of his labour. Current thinking tells us that asymmetry in the universe has its origins in the forces that unfolded after the Big Bang and, more specifically, the weak force. Being 'left handed', the weak force imprinted its signature on the evolving Universe. However, at the molecular level, the weak force does not provide a straightforward explanation of biomolecular homochirality. In fact, it is yet to be proved beyond doubt that a causal link exists at all. Many alternative theories have been put forward, some of them resting on solid ground, but all lacking definitive experimental evidence to back them up. Some postulate that the handedness of molecules in the biosphere arose by chance but this is hard to test. Others rely on discovering life on similar planets and making comparisons with Earth. Alternative theories have emerged from a range of backgrounds including geology, biology, chemistry, physics and astronomy. Current advances in fields as diverse as space exploration, prebiotic chemistry and high-energy physics may help to provide an answer. Important pieces of information will come from observations at the two frontiers of science: outer space and the subatomic world. Observation of distant planets, galaxies, and even actual sampling of celestial objects from beyond the solar system are projects currently underway. At the other end of the spectrum, there are experiments that study the elemental properties of matter, such as symmetry, and interactions with the fundamental forces. All these efforts will render their fruits soon. This volume unifies all the theories of the origin of biomolecular homochirality together in one source. The various chapters focus on chance mechanisms, physical forces such as the 'weakinteraction', fluid dynamics, amplification of chirality, the organic contents of meteorites and comets and, finally, the physical view of an intrinsically asymmetric universe. This complete, interdisciplinary review of an intriguing subject condenses a large and disparate range of contributions from journals in almost every scientific field. The various theories have been organized, interrelated and explained in a unified way. One of the book's strengths is its extensive use of graphic material to aid understanding the many subjects covered. It is fundamental, comprehensive and structured to be accessible for educational purposes.

Few times an unsolved issue in science has dealt with a larger number of approaches or theories intending to shed light on it and few times this has been done from so different, often orthogonal perspectives. This book covers a hot topic, one of the unsolved problems not just in chemistry, but in science

Where were the amino acids, the molecules of life, created: perhaps in a lightning storm in the early Earth, or perhaps elsewhere in the cosmos? This book argues that at least some of them must have been produced in the cosmos, and that the fact that the Earthly amino acids have a specific handedness provides an important clue for that explanation. The book discusses several models that purport to explain the handedness, ultimately proposing a new explanation that involves cosmic processing of the amino acids produced in space. The book provides a tour for laypersons that includes a definition of life, the Big Bang, stellar nucleosynthesis, the electromagnetic spectrum, molecules, and supernovae and the particles they produce.

How can we study one of the most elusive molecular properties, chirality, using nuclear interactions with the magnetic field that are apparently insensitive to handedness? This book answers this question from the physicochemical point of view by providing a clear, coherent, and comprehensive review of methods used in NMR studies of chirality. Presented arguments based on fundamental physical and chemical laws and in-depth descriptions of new methods utilizing purely physical interactions are mainly addressed to spectroscopists in both academia and industry. The introductory chapters provide the reader with the basics of NMR spectroscopy as a tool for the study of chiral compounds, and those more interested in the methods of chiral discrimination will benefit from the brief description of their common points and reasons why some of them may or may not work. In the following chapters, the book shows rapid progress in a newly emerging field of chirality-sensitive NMR, in particular, a search for effects that give direct information about the absolute configuration of a molecule.

Discover a new generation of organic nanomaterials and their applications Recent developments in nanoscience and nanotechnology have given rise to a new generation of functional organic nanomaterials with controlled morphology and well-defined properties, which enable a broad range of useful applications. This book explores some of the most important of these organic nanomaterials, describing how they are synthesized and characterized. Moreover, the book explains how researchers have incorporated organic nanomaterials into devices for real-world applications. Featuring contributions from an international team of leading nanoscientists, Organic Nanomaterials is divided into five parts: Part One introduces the fundamentals of nanomaterials and self-assembled nanostructures Part Two examines carbon nanostructures from fullerenes to carbon nanotubes to graphene reporting on properties, theoretical studies, and applications Part Three investigates key aspects of some inorganic materials, self-assembled monolayers, organic field effect transistors, and molecular self-assembly at solid surfaces Part Four explores topics that involve both biological aspects and nanomaterials such as biofunctionalized surfaces Part Five offers detailed examples of how organic nanomaterials enhance sensors and molecular photovoltaics Most of the chapters end with a summary highlighting the key points. References at the end of each chapter guide readers to the growing body of original research reports and reviews in the field. Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of organic nanomaterials, this book is recommended for researchers in chemistry, physics, materials science, polymer science, and chemical and materials engineering. All readers will learn the principles of synthesizing and characterizing new organic nanomaterials in order to support a broad range of exciting new applications.

Colour and the Optical Properties of Materials carefully introduces the science behind the subject, along with many modern and cutting-edge applications, chosen to appeal to today's students. For science students, it provides a broad introduction to the subject and the many applications of colour. To more applied students, such as engineering and arts students, it provides the essential scientific background to colour and the many applications. New to this Edition: The chapter framework of the first edition will be retained, with each chapter being substantially rewritten and some material would be relocated. Some chapters will be rewritten in a clearer fashion, e.g. There have been no significant advances in the understanding of rainbows recently, but the text could be clarified and improved. Colour has been an important attribute of many nano-particle containing systems, such as quantum dots. This aspect will be included, e.g. the colour of gold ruby glass, described in Chapter 5 as part of scattering phenomena now is better treated in terms of gold nanoparticles and surface plasmons. This would probably be transferred to Chapter 10 and considered in tandem with the colour of metals such as copper, silver and gold. A similar state of affairs applies to silver nanoparticles and polychromic glass. Some chapters will include extensive new material, e.g. Chapter 8, colours due to molecular processes [organic LEDs etc], and Chapter 12, Displays, [touch screen technologies]. For all chapters it would be intended to take into account the current scientific literature up to the time of submission – say up to the end of 2009. The end of chapter Further Reading sections would reflect this up-to-date overview. The end of chapter problems will be strengthened and expanded.

?? Giant molecules are important in our everyday life. But, as pointed out by the authors, they are also associated with a culture. What Bach did with the harpsichord, Kuhn and Flory did with polymers. We owe a lot of thanks to those who now make this music accessible ??Pierre-Gilles de GennesNobel Prize laureate in Physics(Foreword for the 1st Edition, March 1996)This book describes the basic facts, concepts and ideas of polymer physics in simple, yet scientifically accurate, terms. In both scientific and historic contexts, the book shows how the subject of polymers is fascinating, as it is behind most of the wonders of living cell machinery as well as most of the newly developed materials. No mathematics is used in the book beyond modest high school algebra and a bit of freshman calculus, yet very sophisticated concepts are introduced and explained, ranging from scaling and reptations to protein folding and evolution. The new edition includes an extended section on polymer preparation methods, discusses knots formed by molecular filaments, and presents new and updated materials on such contemporary topics as single molecule experiments with DNA or polymer properties of proteins and their roles in biological evolution.

The applications of topological techniques for understanding molecular structures have become increasingly important over the past thirty years. In this topology text, the reader will learn about knot theory, 3-dimensional manifolds, and the topology of embedded graphs, while learning the role these play in understanding molecular structures. Most of the results that are described in the text are motivated by questions asked by chemists or molecular biologists, though the results themselves often go beyond answering the original question asked. There is no specific mathematical or chemical prerequisite; all the relevant background is provided. The text is enhanced by nearly 200 illustrations and more than 100 exercises. Reading this fascinating book, undergraduate mathematics students can escape the world of pure abstract theory and enter that of real molecules, while chemists and biologists will find simple, clear but rigorous definitions of mathematical concepts they handle intuitively in their work.