Chiral separation of enantiomorphic objects by rotation in a fluid

Abstract

Right- and left-handed propellers translate in opposite directions when rotated in the same direction. The same phenomenon may occur with enantiomorphic objects. In this paper, enantiomorphic octahedrons and tetrahedrons were fabricated using a 3D printer and rotated in a liquid medium. The rotation axis was determined by solving an eigenvalue problem for the shape tensor that hydrodynamically characterizes the shape of these polyhedrons. The model exhibited propeller-like motion, indicating the possibility of separating enantiomorphic objects.