Dual-Path Mechanism of Amino Acid Racemization Mediated by Quantum Mechanical Tunneling

[2410.10544] Dual-Path Mechanism of Amino Acid Racemization Mediated by Quantum Mechanical Tunneling Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Search arXiv Press Enter to search · Advanced search Physics > Chemical Physics arXiv:2410.10544 (physics) [Submitted on 14 Oct 2024] Title: Dual-Path Mechanism of Amino Acid Racemization Mediated by Quantum Mechanical Tunneling Authors: Xinrui Yang , Rui Liu , Ruiqi Xu , Zhaohua Cui , Zhigang Wang View a PDF of the paper titled Dual-Path Mechanism of Amino Acid Racemization Mediated by Quantum Mechanical Tunneling, by Xinrui Yang and 4 other authors View PDF Abstract: The racemization of amino acids constitutes one of the most elemental and critical reactions, holding primitive significance for understanding the life's origin and maintenance. Nevertheless, its mechanism at the atomic level has been persistently misunderstood for more than a century. In this work, we demonstrate that the racemization of amino acid molecules in aqueous environments can occur simultaneously by two pathways via the carboxyl (COOH) and amino (NH2) groups. Behind this result, the quantum mechanical tunneling (QMT) effect plays a pivotal role, as evidenced by the tunneling hindrance of the NH2 reaction and the tunneling enhancement of the COOH reaction. Notably, the disparity in the QMT effect leads to a crossover between the COOH and NH2 reactions within 200-257 K, such that NH2 reactions dominate at high temperatures and COOH reactions dominate at low temperatures. Our work emphasizes the significance of QMT effect in the racemization of amino acids and therefore introduces a dual-path coexistence mechanism, offering valuable insights into the origin of homochirality in extreme environments of the early Earth. Comments: 15 pages, 4 figures Subjects: Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph) ; Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2410.10544 [physics.chem-ph] (or arXiv:2410.10544v1 [physics.chem-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2410.10544 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Journal reference: J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2025,16, 10833-10841 Related DOI : https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.5c02287 Focus to learn more DOI(s) linking to related resources Submission history From: Zhigang Wang [ view email ] [v1] Mon, 14 Oct 2024 14:23:49 UTC (2,260 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Dual-Path Mechanism of Amino Acid Racemization Mediated by Quantum Mechanical Tunneling, by Xinrui Yang and 4 other authors View PDF view license Current browse context: physics.chem-ph < prev | next > new | recent | 2024-10 Change to browse by: physics physics.comp-ph References & Citations NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab) Major funding support from

Related documents

• Dual-Path Mechanism of Amino Acid Racemization Mediated by Quantum Mechanical Tunneling#611264
• Quantum--classical break-even in electronic dynamics of macrocyclic molecules#1144660
• Hybrid quantum-classical de novo design of MHC-binding peptides#438503
• DynaMate: An Autonomous Agent for Protein-Ligand Molecular Dynamics Simulations#642712
• Using experimental results of protein design to guide biomolecular energy-function development#130403