WASHINGTON, June 17, 2024 — L-DOPA is the best drug we have for Parkinson’s disease, but its molecular mirror image, D-DOPA, causes dangerous side effects. Making L-DOPA without also making D-DOPA is surprisingly hard and requires a specific kind of molecule to pull off. But that specific molecule must be made from a different and equally specific molecule. In this video, our host, George Zaidan, explains how one of the winners of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry pulled it off, and why “chiral synthesis,” as it’s called, is really just turtles all the way down.
Credit: The American Chemical Society
WASHINGTON, June 17, 2024 — L-DOPA is the best drug we have for Parkinson’s disease, but its molecular mirror image, D-DOPA, causes dangerous side effects. Making L-DOPA without also making D-DOPA is surprisingly hard and requires a specific kind of molecule to pull off. But that specific molecule must be made from a different and equally specific molecule. In this video, our host, George Zaidan, explains how one of the winners of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry pulled it off, and why “chiral synthesis,” as it’s called, is really just turtles all the way down.
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Cite Scienmag News
Diana Fleming. (June 17, 2024). Making this Parkinson’s drug is just turtles all the way down (video). Scienmag. https://scienmag.com/making-this-parkinsons-drug-is-just-turtles-all-the-way-down-video/
Diana Fleming. "Making this Parkinson’s drug is just turtles all the way down (video)." Scienmag, 17 June 2024, https://scienmag.com/making-this-parkinsons-drug-is-just-turtles-all-the-way-down-video/. Accessed 8 September 2026.
Diana Fleming. "Making this Parkinson’s drug is just turtles all the way down (video)." Scienmag. June 17, 2024. https://scienmag.com/making-this-parkinsons-drug-is-just-turtles-all-the-way-down-video/
