Better Living Through Chiral Chemistry

Atario writes "A long time ago, I remember reading in some science magazine that someone had the bright idea of using enantiomers (the two forms of asymmetrical molecules, like left- and right-handed versions of the same one) to make zero-calorie sugar -- turns out, in general, that sugars are all asymmetrical, and everything generates and uses only one of the two chiralities (handednesses) for each one. If we consume a mirrored version of, say, sucrose, we might get all of the sweet but none of the calories. Sweet-tooths rejoice! But nothing ever came of it. Now, however, Wired has an interesting article that explains what the holdup has been and indicates the logjam may break soon, but, as it turns out, in a non-synthetic, albeit nonzero-calorie, way."

Comments

Composition doesn't determine taste

[Anonymous Coward]

As I recall from biology, Glucose (C6H1206) is a mirror image of Celluose, and yes, our bodies cannot utilze cellouse (we can't eat hay like cows) therefore 0 calories, but cellouse isn't sweet like glucose. The shape of the molecule determines whether or not the taste receptor is activated (if it's sweet) just as it determines if it fits into the enzyme that allows digestion, not just the chemical formula.