Published in Chemistry World, 8 Mar 2011
Researchers in China have created a new catalyst that could help in the production of ‘chiral’ molecules for medical drugs. The catalyst, which consists of platinum nanoparticles encapsulated in carbon nanotubes, is the most active of its type ever reported, they say.
A chiral molecule is asymmetric – not symmetrical – in such a way that its mirror image cannot be super-imposed on itself. Although a chiral molecule’s two manifestations, known as ‘enantiomers’, (the molecule and its mirror opposite) are often produced in reactions in equal quantities, they can have different properties. In medicine, one enantiomer can be more effective than the other, and researchers are keen to find ways to encourage production of single enantiomers, rather than mixtures. […]
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