Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
homochiral

homochiral

1 9.9
A material whose molecules all twist the same way, like all left or all right
  • adjective
  • /ˌhoʊmoʊˈkaɪrəl/
  • Specialized
: homociral
  • The research focused on creating homochiral materials that could improve the efficacy of drug delivery systems.
  • homochiral biochemistry

Examples

  • She may be content to leave the reader with the impression that this is a way to get homochiral amino acids, but she doesn't try to go there because it would require some intelligent intervention in the form of isolating solutions from solids at appropriate places, and even then only for serine.

    Blog text (14)

  • Note that she doesn't try to suggest that this is a mechanism for getting homochiral proteins for several reasons.

    Blog text (14)

  • In nature, certain organisms produce homochiral molecules, which are essential for life.

  • Homochiral compounds are significant in pharmaceuticals, as they often have specific biological activities.

How Same-Handed

homochiral
  • Specialized
1 9.9
racemic
  • Specialized
1 9.2

Surface Forms

homochiral positive

Morphology

homochiral = chiral (transparent) = homo + chiral

Regular prefixation of the combining form 'homo-' meaning 'same' to the adjective 'chiral', yielding 'having the same handedness'.

Etymology

Homochiral comes from Greek parts homo- meaning 'same', as in homogeneous, and chiral meaning 'hand', like left and right hands that are mirror images. So homochiral describes molecules that all have the same 'hand', which explains why they behave the same way in chemistry and biology.