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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.

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,...

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...

Stereoisomerism

Stereoisomerism

Isomerism in Complexes
Isomers are different chemical species that have the same chemical formula.
Transition metal complexes often exist as geometric isomers, in which the same atoms are connected through the same types of bonds but with differences in their orientation in space. Coordination complexes with two different ligands in the cis and trans positions from a ligand of interest form isomers. For example, the octahedral [Co(NH3)4Cl2]+ ion has two isomers (Figure 1) In the cis...

Photochemical Electrocyclic Reactions: Stereochemistry

Photochemical Electrocyclic Reactions: Stereochemistry

The absorption of UV–visible light by conjugated systems causes the promotion of an electron from the ground state to the excited state. Consequently, photochemical electrocyclic reactions proceed via the excited-state HOMO rather than the ground-state HOMO. Since the ground- and excited-state HOMOs have different symmetries, the stereochemical outcome of electrocyclic reactions depends on the mode of activation; i.e., thermal or photochemical.
Selection Rules: Photochemical Activation

¹H NMR Chemical Shift Equivalence: Enantiotopic and Diastereotopic Protons

¹H NMR Chemical Shift Equivalence: Enantiotopic and Diastereotopic Protons

Replacing each alpha-hydrogen in chloroethane by bromine (or a different functional group) yields a pair of enantiomers. Such protons are called prochiral or enantiotopic and are related by a mirror plane. Enantiotopic protons are chemically equivalent in an achiral environment. Because most proton NMR spectra are recorded using achiral solvents, enantiotopic hydrogens yield a single signal.
In chiral compounds such as 2-butanol, replacing the methylene hydrogens at C3 produces a pair of...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 26, 2026

An Electrochemical Cholesteric Liquid Crystalline Device for Quick and Low-Voltage Color Modulation

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Published on: February 27, 2019

All-optically tunable electromagnetic chirality transfer.

En-Ze Li^1,2, Ming-Xin Dong^1,2, Dong-Sheng Ding^1,2

¹Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China.

Science Advances

|April 24, 2026

Summary

Researchers developed an all-optical method for controlling electromagnetic chirality in atomic media. This technique enables precise manipulation of chiral symmetry breaking, crucial for quantum technologies and matter discrimination.

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Area of Science:

Quantum optics
Atomic physics
Chirality studies

Background:

Chirality detection and control are vital for matter discrimination and quantum manipulation.
Chiral probes enhance chiral dichroism but their influence on medium symmetry is often overlooked, hindering deterministic electromagnetic chirality induction.
Understanding light-matter interactions is key to advancing quantum technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

To propose and demonstrate a versatile all-optical method for generating and manipulating electromagnetic chirality in neutral atomic media.
To enable deterministic control over chirality transfer using a helical field.
To investigate optically induced symmetry breaking and its impact on chiral interactions.

Main Methods:

Inducing chirality-dependent dispersion in a neutral atomic system.
Utilizing a helical field for tunable chirality transfer.
Theoretical analysis of optically induced symmetry breaking.
Experimental demonstration of helicity-dependent responses in atomic media.

Main Results:

Demonstrated a simple, versatile all-optical chirality transfer method.
Achieved deterministic and tunable control of electromagnetic chirality in atomic media.
Showcased effective suppression and enhancement of induced chirality.
Enabled deterministic electromagnetic enantioselection through controlled symmetry breaking.

Conclusions:

The proposed all-optical method provides efficient control over electromagnetic chirality in atomic systems.
This approach offers a pathway for manipulating chiral symmetry breaking in light-matter interactions.
The findings are significant for advancements in quantum manipulation and chiral sensing technologies.