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Article: Swimming in the chiral business pool. (economic potential of chiral materials)
- Article from:
- Chemistry and Industry
- Article date:
- January 3, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Society of Chemical Industry. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Maria Burke three of the companies gaining a foothold in the potentially
lucrative market of chiral materials.
Louis Pasteur first observed chirality in 1848 when he noticed that the crystals that formed around the neck of his wine bottle were different to those that appeared at the bottom of the bottle. On investigation, he identified two forms of tartaric acid which were mirror images of each other. These structures - optical isomers or enantiomers - are to each other what right hands are to left hands. Further research into this phenomenon - called chirality, from the Greek 'cheir' meaning handedness - eventually led him to propose that the whole universe ...