SPONTANEOUS CHIRAL SEGREGATION IN BIDIMENSIONAL FILMS

We have monitored spontaneous chiral segregation in Langmuir films of a racemic mixture of D and L myristoyl-alanine. Following monolayer de position, we observe first a strong chiral discrimination, followed at longer times by a spatial segregation between D and L domains. Eviden ce for discrimination has been obtained by surface pressure/area per m olecule measurements, whereas segregation is inferred from optical obs ervations using epifluorescence microscopy and from an analysis of the lattice symmetry using x-ray diffraction.