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Chirality in Nature

Chirality in Nature

Chirality is the most intriguing yet essential facet of nature, governing life’s biochemical processes and precision. It can be observed from a snail shell pattern in a macroscopic world to an amino acid, the minutest building block of life. Most of the snails around the world have right-coiled shells because of the intrinsic chirality in their genes. All the amino acids present in the human body exist in an enantiomerically pure state, except for glycine - the sole achiral amino acid.

Chirality

Chirality

Chirality is a term that describes the lack of mirror symmetry in an object. In other words, chiral objects cannot be superposed on their mirror images. For example, our feet are chiral, as the mirror image of the left foot, the right foot, cannot be superposed on the left foot.
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...

Prochirality

Prochirality

The concept of prochirality leads to the nomenclature of the individual faces of a molecule and plays a crucial role in the enantioselective reaction. It is a concept where two or more achiral molecules react to produce chiral products. A typical process is the reaction of an achiral ketone to generate a chiral alcohol. Here, the achiral reactant reacts with an achiral reducing agent, sodium borohydride, to generate an equimolar mixture of the chiral enantiomers of the product. For example, an...

Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers

Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers

Molecules that possess multiple chiral centers can afford a large number of stereoisomers. For instance, while some molecules like 2-butanol have one chiral center, defined as a tetrahedral carbon atom with four different substituents attached, several molecules like butane-2,3-diol have multiple chiral centers. A simple formula to predict the number of stereoisomers possible for a molecule with n chiral centers is 2n. However, there can be a lower number where some of the stereoisomers are...

Radical Halogenation: Stereochemistry

Radical Halogenation: Stereochemistry

Stereochemistry is the study of the different spatial arrangements of atoms in a given molecule. The stereochemistry of radical halogenations can be understood from three different situations:
Halogenation to form a new chiral center:

Stereoisomerism of Cyclic Compounds

Stereoisomerism of Cyclic Compounds

In this lesson, we delve into the role of ring conformation and its stability, which determines the spatial arrangement and, consequently, the molecular symmetry and stereoisomerism of cyclic compounds. 1,2-Dimethylcyclohexane is used as a case study to evaluate the possible number of stereoisomers. Here, given the multiple (n = 2) chiral centers, there are 2n = 4 possible configurations that lack a plane of symmetry, as the ring skeleton exists in a non-planar chair conformation. In addition,...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 2, 2026

Coulomb Explosion Imaging as a Tool to Distinguish Between Stereoisomers

Coulomb Explosion Imaging as a Tool to Distinguish Between Stereoisomers

Published on: August 18, 2017

Meta-Chirality: Fundamentals, Construction and Applications.

Xiaoliang Ma¹, Mingbo Pu², Xiong Li³

¹State Key Laboratory of Optical Technologies on Nano-Fabrication and Micro-Engineering, Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 350, Chengdu 610209, China. maxl@ioe.ac.cn.

Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland)

|May 18, 2017

Summary

Chiral metamaterials, artificial structures lacking mirror symmetry, exhibit unique electromagnetic properties like circular dichroism. This review covers their theory, construction, and applications in polarization control and beyond.

Keywords:

chiral metamaterials circular dichroism extrinsic chirality optical activity reconfigurable

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A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality

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Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks MOFs

Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks MOFs

Published on: January 17, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Mar 2, 2026

Coulomb Explosion Imaging as a Tool to Distinguish Between Stereoisomers

Coulomb Explosion Imaging as a Tool to Distinguish Between Stereoisomers

Published on: August 18, 2017

A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality

A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality

Published on: March 11, 2022

Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks MOFs

Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks MOFs

Published on: January 17, 2020

Area of Science:

Electromagnetism and Materials Science
Photonics and Nanotechnology

Background:

Chiral metamaterials are artificial structures lacking mirror symmetry.
Their asymmetry enables cross-coupling of electric and magnetic fields, leading to unique electromagnetic responses.
These properties include circular dichroism and optical activity, crucial for polarization manipulation.

Purpose of the Study:

To review the fundamental theory and construction principles of chiral metamaterials.
To summarize recent advancements in extrinsic, absorbing, and reconfigurable chiral metamaterials.
To introduce future trends and applications, particularly in nonlinear optics.

Main Methods:

Theoretical analysis of chiral media.
Examination of construction principles for typical chiral metamaterials.
Review of experimental and theoretical progress in various chiral metamaterial types.

Main Results:

Chiral metamaterials offer novel ways to tune polarization and achieve negative refractive indices.
Significant progress has been made in developing extrinsic, absorbing, and reconfigurable chiral metamaterials.
These materials show promise for applications in imaging, sensing, and nonlinear optics.

Conclusions:

Chiral metamaterials are a rapidly advancing field with diverse applications.
Further research into their fundamental properties and novel configurations will unlock new technological possibilities.
Their unique electromagnetic characteristics position them as key components for future optical technologies.