chiral molecules tagged posts

Chiral molecule. Credit: Palitel and Naaman

A new study published in Science by Professors Yossi Paltiel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ron Naaman from the Weizmann Institute of Science describes a breakthrough technology with the power to create drugs with fewer unwanted side effects. The most important molecules in biology are chiral molecules. “Chiral,” the Greek word for “hand,” describes molecules that look almost exactly alike and contain the same number of atoms but are mirror images of one another – i.e. some “left-handed” and others are “right-handed.” This different “handedness” is crucial and yields different biological effects.

Understanding chiral differences was made painfully clear by the drug thalidomide...

With four moving rows of magnets, the Delta undulator can create circularly polarized, or spiraling, light. Credit: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

A new device at the Dept of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Lab allows researchers to explore the properties and dynamics of molecules with circularly polarized, or spiraling, light. The use of polarized light is important in the study of many molecules and processes that affect our everyday lives...