Two Scientists Win Chemistry Nobel for Mirror Molecules

Many molecules, such as the amino acids that build proteins, come in two versions. They have the same atoms, but each is a mirror image of the other, like our left and right hands. Scientists call this chirality. Living things use almost only one form, but reactions in a laboratory usually make equal amounts of both. It also matters for medicine, because the two versions can act differently in the body. One may treat an illness, while the other does nothing or causes harm. The drug thalidomide, given to pregnant women for morning sickness in the late 1950s and early 1960s, is a famous example. The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) reports that one form helped patients but the other was toxic. Thousands of children were born with serious disabilities.

In 1986, Kagan discovered that a small imbalance in a catalyst could lead to a much bigger excess of one product. Soai then designed reactions in which the products help to make more of themselves, a process known as autocatalysis. In 2003, his reaction produced almost only one mirror-image form. The Nobel committee said nobody except life itself had done this before. Committee member Peter Somfai said the research is now a basic tool for designing catalysts, including in drug development.