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年諾貝爾化學獎表彰的不對稱有機合成技術，使化學家能夠只合成手性分子中有益的那一種鏡像結構。作者結合沙利度胺的歷史教訓與其實驗室對白藜蘆醇兩種異構體的研究，說明分子在空間中的排列方式會決定藥物在體內的效果。