Chirality, while not a rarity in the world of molecules, is nevertheless a special property. If a molecule is chiral (from the Greek word chiros = hand), it exists in two mirrored versions that are very similar but not identical—like ...
Nanophysics
Apr 29, 2022
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165
Organic chemists at UCLA have created the first synthetic version of a molecule recently discovered in a sea sponge that may have therapeutic benefits for Parkinson's disease and similar disorders. The molecule, known as ...
Biochemistry
Jan 20, 2023
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358
A relatively simple combination of naturally occurring sugars and amino acids offers a plausible route to the building blocks of life, according to a paper published in Nature Chemistry co-authored by a professor at the University ...
Biochemistry
Aug 9, 2011
11
0
A multi-institutional team of researchers that included scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has created the first artificial molecules whose chirality can be rapidly switched from a right-handed ...
General Physics
Jul 10, 2012
4
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A combined team of researchers from Princeton University and Yale University has developed a multicatalytic technique to enrich racemic mixtures directly to a single enantiomer in a single step. In their paper published in ...
Limonene, a compound found in citrus fruits, has two enantiomers: mirror-image molecules that cannot be superimposed, like a left and right hand.
Other
Jan 17, 2019
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3
Distinguishing between left-handed and right-handed (chiral) molecules is crucial in chemistry and the life sciences, and is commonly achieved using a method called circular dichroism. However, during biochemical reactions, ...
Analytical Chemistry
Jan 11, 2019
2
46
Recognizing and separating enantiomers is a difficult task for chemical engineers—one might say it gives them a bit of a headache.
Polymers
May 8, 2023
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81
Some molecules can exist in two mirror-image forms, similar to our hands. Although such so-called enantiomers have almost identical physical properties, they are not the same. The fact that they behave to each other like ...
Materials Science
Nov 14, 2019
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51
Many of the molecular building blocks of life have two versions that are mirror images of one another, known as enantiomers. Although seemingly identical, the two enantiomers can have completely different chemical behaviour—a ...
Condensed Matter
Dec 17, 2019
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