From Pasteur’s molecular dissymmetry to homochirality :a brief overview

Since the discovery of chirality in organic molecules by Pasteur in the 19th century, the emergence of homochirality in biological molecules such as DNA and proteins has puzzled generations of scientists. Although the origin of such an asymmetry is still unknown, many researchers tried to understand the mechanism behind this symmetry breaking process through experiments and theoretical approaches. This article aims at providing a brief overview of the main experimental and theoretical contributions to this research field. In addition, the author’s contributions in the framework of his master thesis as well as the investigations planned in the context of his PhD thesis are presented. This article does not claim to be exhaustive and specific but rather aims at providing an introduction to this rapidly growing research field.