Mirror-image molecules separated using workhorse of chemistry
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Chemists have shown it is possible to use mass spectrometry — a technique commonly used to identify molecules by mass — to separate chiral molecules, those that exist as different forms with identical atoms but mirror-image structures that can’t be superimposed on each other.
The technique, described today in Science1, could one day have applications in drug discovery. The different versions of chiral molecules — called enantiomers — often have very different properties. The drug thalidomide showed this to tragic effect: one enantiomer is a sedative, but the other causes congenital disabilities when taken during pregnancy. As a result, separating enantiomers is a crucial part of drug discovery, but it is often laborious. Current methods require specialist equipment and different protocols for each pair of enantiomers.
A team of researchers led by Zheng Ouyang at Tsinghua University in Beijing managed to use mass spectrometry to separate enantiomers for a class of chiral molecules called binaphthyl-triflates.
