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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...

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.

Properties of Enantiomers and Optical Activity

Properties of Enantiomers and Optical Activity

It is essential to understand the difference between chiral and achiral interactions and the implications thereof in optical activity and their applications. Just as our feet, which are chiral, interact uniquely with chiral objects, such as a pair of shoes, but identically with achiral socks, enantiomers of a molecule exhibit different properties only when they interact with other chiral media. An example of a significant implication from this facet is the phenomenon known as optical activity,...

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...

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...

Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur

Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur

Chirality is most prevalent in carbon-based tetrahedral compounds, but this important facet of molecular symmetry extends to sp3-hybridized nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur centers, including trivalent molecules with lone pairs. Here, the lone pair behaves as a functional group in addition to the other three substituents to form an analogous tetrahedral center that can be chiral.
A consequence of chirality is the need for enantiomeric resolution. While this is theoretically possible for all...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 1, 2025

A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality

A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality

Published on: March 11, 2022

Perfect Chirality with Imperfect Polarization.

Ben Lang¹, Dara P S McCutcheon¹, Edmund Harbord¹

¹Quantum Engineering Technology Labs, H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory and Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1FD, United Kingdom.

Physical Review Letters

|March 4, 2022

Summary

Engineered elliptical dipoles enable unidirectional light emission into waveguides for any elliptical polarization, enhancing chiral light-matter interactions.

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Area of Science:

Optics and Photonics
Quantum Optics
Nanophotonics

Background:

Unidirectional light emission is crucial for chiral light-matter interactions.
Circular polarization is typically required for efficient unidirectional emission from circular dipoles.
Elliptical polarization often results in lower directional contrast.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the possibility of achieving unidirectional emission with elliptical dipoles.
To explore methods for engineering elliptical transitions in quantum systems.
To enhance the efficiency and area of chiral interactions.

Main Methods:

Theoretical analysis of light emission from elliptical dipoles.
Proposing schemes for engineering elliptical polarization in atomic systems.
Proposing schemes for engineering elliptical polarization in quantum dots.

Main Results:

Unidirectional emission is achievable with elliptical dipoles for any elliptical polarization.
Elliptical dipoles significantly increase the area for chiral interactions (by ~30x).
Elliptical dipoles enhance coupling efficiencies compared to circular dipoles.

Conclusions:

Elliptical dipoles offer a more versatile and efficient approach for unidirectional light emission.
Engineered elliptical transitions in atomic systems and quantum dots are feasible.
This work expands the possibilities for controlling chiral light-matter interactions.