Nobel Prize in Chemistry for understanding the simplicity of life

Kagan and Soai have studied the chirality, or handedness, of molecules. Some molecules exist in two forms that are mirror images of each other, like two human hands.

Living organisms contain only one form of each. The second is rare in nature. The reason was a mystery for a long time.

“Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have produced a solution to the centuries-old mystery of chemistry: how can even-handedness arise spontaneously”, reasoned the chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry Heiner Linke rewarding.

When chemists started doing experiments with chemical reactions, molecules with different hands were always created in equal numbers.

Thanks to Kagan and Soai, we now only know how to produce one handiness with a chemical reaction.

This is of great importance, for example, in the production of pharmaceuticals, because only the second version works in the body as desired.

“Every amino acid in our body is left-handed,” explains the professor of synthetic chemistry Jan Desk from the University of Helsinki. Only same-handed drug molecules are compatible with the body’s amino acid.

“Just like shaking hands with the left hand can only be done with the left hand.”

A drug in the wrong hands can be harmful.

The substance even the perceptible properties can be different depending on the dexterity of the molecules. For example, they may smell different.

Deska gives an example. In the forest, the turpentines of conifers, which are left-handed, smell.

A right-handed form of the same molecule is found in lemons and oranges. It smells like citrus.

The smell has to do with the fact that the right-handed and left-handed versions fit different olfactory receptors in our own sensory system.

Kaganin and according to Deska, Soai’s discoveries are important in understanding life on Earth as a whole.

“How chemical reactions have led to where we are now.”

It is still not completely clear.

“It is not yet known exactly what happened first and determined the future direction.”

The prize the amount is 12 million kroner, i.e. just under 1.1 million euros.

He received the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday, a researcher who made hard-to-detect neutrinos visible with the help of a continental glacier.

Medicine and Physiology award was given on Monday for three optogenetics pioneers. They have shown how light affects the activity of living neurons.

The literature prize is next on Thursday and the peace prize on Friday.

The Swedish Central Bank’s Economics Prize Alfred Nobelin as a reminder, it will be announced a week from now on Monday.