Formation of Chiral Structures in Photoinitiated Formose Reaction

Abstract

The possibility to synthesize biologically important sugars and other chiral compounds without any initiators in the UV-initiated reaction of formaldehyde in aqueous solution has been shown for the first time. An optically active condensed phase due to an sp³-hybridized carbon atom has been detected. It has been shown that this phase is formed due to the spatial cleavage of antipodes in the racemate, similar to the cleavage of enantiomers following the sign of chirality in the known experiments of Pasteur. The results have been obtained under the conditions that correspond to modern ideas about the form and vector of prebiological evolution and, therefore, can be of fundamental importance for understanding the processes of biopoiesis.