Many drugs have mirror chemical structures, one helpful and the other harmful – a Nobel‑winning discovery allows chemists to make either on demand

From thalidomide to resveratrol, molecules with the exact same chemical properties can have drastically different effects in the body depending on how they’re arranged in space.

2026年诺贝尔化学奖表彰的不对称有机合成技术，使化学家能够只合成手性分子中有益的那一种镜像结构。作者结合沙利度胺的历史教训与其实验室对白藜芦醇两种异构体的研究，说明分子在空间中的排列方式会决定药物在体内的效果。