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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2001

  The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2001  
       
   

Nature is chiral

  
 
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The word chiral derives from the Greek word ceir (cheir), meaning hand. Our hands are chiral - the right hand is a mirror image of the left - as are most of life's molecules such as (R)-alanine and (S)-alanine, which are mirror images of each other.

In our cells we find only one form of this amino acid, (S)-alanine. The same is true for enzymes, antibodies, hormones and DNA.

 

 

 

  
     
 
 Contents:
| Introduction | Nature is chiral | What is catalytic asymmetric synthesis? | How does a chiral molecule function? | Chemistry becomes three-dimensional | Pioneering work | General hydrogenations | Chirally catalysed oxidations | Further reading | Credits |
Based on materials from the 2001 Nobel Poster for Chemistry.
Web Adapted Version of the Nobel Poster from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
 
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