Chemistry Through the Looking-Glass: the curious world of mirror-image molecules

It was around 150 years ago that Lewis Carroll published ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’, his fantastical tale of a strange world where everything is reversed, as if in a mirror. Back then, the idea that such a world could actually exist – at least at the molecular level – was still in its infancy. Today, stereochemistry – to give it its proper name – is not just a scientific curiosity, but a vital consideration in the safety and effectiveness of modern medicines. That’s because carbon, the element that all life on Earth depends upon, has the unique ability to form pairs of compounds with identical chemical compositions, but mirror-image 3D structures. In this entertaining talk, Carol Barrett from Cardiff u3a will be our Alice, looking first at symmetry and patterns in the natural world, before focussing on the looking-glass world of carbon chemistry, and finishing with its impact on pharmaceutical research.

To view the recording, click here… ‘Chemistry through the Looking-glass’

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