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Cover Picture: Biotechnology Journal 5/2006
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.144
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1860-7314
pISSN - 1860-6768
DOI - 10.1002/biot.200690057
Subject(s) - enantiopure drug , enantiomer , biochemical engineering , chirality (physics) , cover (algebra) , environmentally friendly , biocatalysis , microbiology and biotechnology , green chemistry , chemistry , combinatorial chemistry , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , enantioselective synthesis , biology , catalysis , materials science , engineering , ecology , physics , mechanical engineering , chiral symmetry breaking , ionic liquid , quantum mechanics , quark , nambu–jona lasinio model
Cover illustration: Chirality is omnipresent in nature: Many compounds contain an asymmetric center and thus can occur in two non‐superimposable mirror‐image forms (enantiomers). The two enantiomers of a chiral compound often have dramatically different effects, as exemplified by the thalidomid catastrophe. Therefore, only one enantiomer is needed for the production of active substances in the pharmaceutical or agricultural industry. It is an important aspect in white biotechnology, to take advantage of highly specific catalysts of (micro‐) biological origin for the synthesis of enantiopure compounds. Biocatalysis indeed is a highly efficient process and an example of environmentally friendly, ‘green’ chemistry, requiring relatively low energy inputs, mild solvents and generating minimal byproducts. Image © Wacker.