Chiral Symmetry Breaking in Sodium Chlorate Crystallization from Unstirred Solution

Abstract Statistics of nucleation of chiral forms of sodium chlorate from unstirred, achiral solutions was studied. The trimodal distribution of enantiomers was obtained in which apart from the peak for the same probability of the creation of L and D crystals, two other maxima for the large enantiomeric excesses of L and D forms were present. The first nucleated crystals govern the handedness of the secondary crystals and the formation of pure enantiomers and high enantiomeric excesses in crystallization from unstirred, unseeded solutions are caused by the process of chiral symmetry breaking rather than statistical fluctuations.