SOME molecules exist in two forms that are chemically identical but are
mirror images of each other. These mirror-image pairs frequently have very
different biological effects, so chemists would like to find a quick way to tell
them apart.
A laborious method called chiral chromatography is used at the moment.
Mirror-image molecules are separated as they travel through a long column, based
on their different affinities to chemicals in the column walls. But Ben Feringa
at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands is developing an instant test
that’s as easy to perform in the lab as a litmus test.…
