The interactions of chemical mirror images
(PHYSorg.com Chemistry)

Chemists from Ruhr-Universität Bochum are hoping to find out how strongly the mirror-image chemical molecules - called chiral compounds - interact with their interaction partners. They are concentrating on halogen bonds that molecules with a bromine or iodine atom can form. These interactions are currently being investigated in many areas of chemistry as design elements for functional molecules, such as modern catalysts and new materials or pharmaceutically active compounds. The work of the researchers led by Dr. Christian Merten from the Department of Organic Chemistry II is being funded by the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation as part of the `Plus 3` perspectives programme with around 760,000 euros for three years. The project starts in November 2018.