CHEM
In the literature: contested
Do enantiomers adsorb differently on oppositely magnetized surfaces
In plain words
Experiments report that left-handed and right-handed versions of a molecule stick at different rates to a magnet depending on which way it points. If true, magnets could sort mirror-image molecules.
Precise statement
For chiral molecules (helical peptides, DNA oligomers, amino acids) adsorbing on perpendicularly magnetized ferromagnetic films, determine whether the initial adsorption rate differs between enantiomers for opposite magnetization directions by more than the combined experimental error, under controlled surface preparation and blinded magnetization direction. An answer is a yes or no with an effect size from independent replications.
What would settle it
Independent multi-laboratory replication with controlled surfaces and blinded magnetization direction.
Related problems
- More general than Mechanism of enantiomer-selective adsorption on magnetized surfaces