Abstract
Experiments are reported in which three prochiral organic reactions were conducted in the presence of a ca. 1T magnetic field which was oriented with reference to the earth's geometric axes. The sign and magnitude of the rotation varied with the macroscopic orientation of the magnetic field and the time that the reaction was performed. Control measurements were in accord with expectations. The fact that the sign of the observed optical rotation of the product was reversed for all three reported reactions when the magnetic field was reversed for reactions conducted on the same day suggests that either the observed asymmetric synthesis was due to the reactions being conducted in a chiral physical field or extremely unusual stochastic processes were involved.
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References
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The only discussion of the theoretical basis for the effect was: “Both positive and negative rotations were observed. This effect could not be regulated but seemed coincidental. However, this could be easily explained: Let e.g. the sign depend on the phase relationship of the fields [magnetic and AC electric]. Since at 50 sec−1 the wavelength amounts to several thousand kilometers, it would not be surprising if their relationship could not be reproduced, much less regulated” [5]
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It is conceivable that variations in the local curvature of space due to planetary and lunar motion could interact with gravitational waves producting interference effects which could account for the variation between zero and non-zero rotations in Tables 1–3
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It is a pleasure to acknowledge valuable technical assistance from P. Bretton, K. Cooper, J.D. Roberts and K. Young, and useful conversations with R.L. Fulton and H.M. Walborsky.
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Piotrowska, K., Edwards, D., Mitch, A. et al. Magnetic and other field effects on prochiral chemical reactions. Naturwissenschaften 67, 442–445 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00405637
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00405637