The preparation of chiral compounds as intermediates in drug synthesis is one of the most important targets in synthetic organic chemistry. Japanese scientists have now shown that the autocatalytic ...

The discipline of systems chemistry deals with the analysis and synthesis of various autocatalytic systems and is therefore closely related to the study of the origin of life, since it investigates ...

How did life begin? How did chemical reactions on the early Earth create complex, self-replicating structures that developed into living things as we know them? According to one school of thought, ...

Asymmetric life. Presentation of stereoisomer enantiomers with letters R and S standing for rectus (right) and sinister (left). Credit: iStock DariaRen Like the imbalance of matter and antimatter, the ...

A new study is proposing the idea that life on other worlds may not look like life as we know it. A research team dug into a type of reaction known as autocatalysis—a self-perpetuating reaction—long ...

In the beginning, there were chiral molecules. RNA, DNA, proteins, and other biological molecules tend to be present as only either right- or left-handed. However, scientists are not sure how this ...

Life on a faraway planet -- if it's out there -- might not look anything like life on Earth. But there are only so many chemical ingredients in the universe's pantry, and only so many ways to mix them ...