{"id":36201,"date":"2016-08-04T15:20:35","date_gmt":"2016-08-04T20:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=36201"},"modified":"2016-08-04T16:57:51","modified_gmt":"2016-08-04T21:57:51","slug":"uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\/","title":{"rendered":"UWM researchers\u2019 work in catalysis could aid drug development"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILWAUKEE _ Many molecules have a chemical structure that is \u201cchiral,\u201d meaning they come in two forms, each with an arrangement of atoms that are mirror images of each other.<\/p>\n

These \u201cright-handed\u201d and \u201cleft-handed\u201d arrangements, called enantiomers, are problematic for industries that make pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals.<\/p>\n

Proteins and sugars in the human body exist in only one of the two enantiomers. Yet the catalytic reactions involved in making drugs often produce molecules with both the \u201cright-handed\u201d and \u201cleft-handed\u201d arrangements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe handedness of molecules that we ingest, such as drugs, can behave differently depending on whether they are left- or right-handed, often with catastrophic consequences,\u201d says Wilfred Tysoe, UWM distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry.<\/p>\n

That means drugs must be synthesized to have only one handedness. Current chiral catalysts that can accomplish this task mix tightly with the reactants, making them difficult to separate afterward.<\/p>\n

The goal is to develop a solid chiral catalyst that can easily be separated from its products.<\/p>\n

New research from the Tysoe group at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee helps to bring that goal closer to reality. The researchers uncovered what happens on the surface of a solid chiral catalyst that allows the preferential formation of only one enantiomer of a molecule.<\/p>\n

The work, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, is detailed in a paper published today in the journal Nature Communications<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The work was carried out in collaboration with Dilano Saldin, a UWM distinguished professor of physics; postdoctoral researchers Mausumi Mahapatra, Michael Garvey and Yun Bai; and chemistry graduate student Luke Burkholder.<\/p>\n

The researchers put a chiral molecule on the surface of a heterogeneous catalyst to investigate how the catalyst biased the surface to favor a particular handedness.<\/p>\n

\u201cA major problem with designing such catalysts arises from the fact that it is difficult to completely influence all of the places on the extended metal surface where the reaction takes place,\u201d said Tysoe. \u201cSo any unmodified positions on the surface will produce both right- and left-handed molecules.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than using a complex commercial catalyst, the team used a simplified catalyst that retained the commercial version\u2019s key chemical properties. This allowed them to use a Scanning Tunneling Microscope to \u201csee\u201d which molecules adsorb and interact on the catalyst surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found that the reactant molecules undergo a structural change when they interact with the chiral modifier, which leads to the preferential formation of one enantiomer, and also makes it more reactive,\u201d\u00a0Tysoe said.<\/p>\n

Grants numbers:<\/strong> DE-FG02-03ER15474 and DE-SC008703<\/p>\n

CONTACT: Wilfred Tysoe, wtt@uwm.edu<\/a>, 414-229-5222<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MILWAUKEE _ Many molecules have a chemical structure that is \u201cchiral,\u201d meaning they come in two forms, each with an arrangement of atoms that are mirror images of each other. These \u201cright-handed\u201d and \u201cleft-handed\u201d arrangements, called enantiomers, are problematic for industries that make pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Proteins and sugars in the human body exist in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40008,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[202],"tags":[],"section":[],"display_categories":[],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[],"class_list":["post-36201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-releases"],"yoast_head":"\nUWM researchers\u2019 work in catalysis could aid drug development<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"MILWAUKEE _ Many molecules have a chemical structure that is \u201cchiral,\u201d meaning they come in two forms, each with an arrangement of atoms that are mirror\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UWM researchers\u2019 work in catalysis could aid drug development\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MILWAUKEE _ Many molecules have a chemical structure that is \u201cchiral,\u201d meaning they come in two forms, each with an arrangement of atoms that are mirror\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UWM REPORT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-04T20:20:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-04T21:57:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UWM News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UWMNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UWMNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UWM News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UWM News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d72440401ec36965989bb00390105686\"},\"headline\":\"UWM researchers\u2019 work in catalysis could aid drug development\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-04T20:20:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-04T21:57:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":431,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"News Releases\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\\\/\",\"name\":\"UWM researchers\u2019 work in catalysis could aid drug development\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-04T20:20:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-04T21:57:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"MILWAUKEE _ Many molecules have a chemical structure that is \u201cchiral,\u201d meaning they come in two forms, each with an arrangement of atoms that are mirror\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UWM researchers\u2019 work in catalysis could aid drug development\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"UWM REPORT\",\"description\":\"News from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg\",\"width\":225,\"height\":224,\"caption\":\"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/UWMNews\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d72440401ec36965989bb00390105686\",\"name\":\"UWM News\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/uwmnewsuwm-edu\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UWM researchers\u2019 work in catalysis could aid drug development","description":"MILWAUKEE _ Many molecules have a chemical structure that is \u201cchiral,\u201d meaning they come in two forms, each with an arrangement of atoms that are mirror","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UWM researchers\u2019 work in catalysis could aid drug development","og_description":"MILWAUKEE _ Many molecules have a chemical structure that is \u201cchiral,\u201d meaning they come in two forms, each with an arrangement of atoms that are mirror","og_url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\/","og_site_name":"UWM REPORT","article_published_time":"2016-08-04T20:20:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-08-04T21:57:51+00:00","author":"UWM News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UWMNews","twitter_site":"@UWMNews","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"UWM News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\/"},"author":{"name":"UWM News","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d72440401ec36965989bb00390105686"},"headline":"UWM researchers\u2019 work in catalysis could aid drug development","datePublished":"2016-08-04T20:20:35+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-04T21:57:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\/"},"wordCount":431,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["News Releases"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\/","name":"UWM researchers\u2019 work in catalysis could aid drug development","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-08-04T20:20:35+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-04T21:57:51+00:00","description":"MILWAUKEE _ Many molecules have a chemical structure that is \u201cchiral,\u201d meaning they come in two forms, each with an arrangement of atoms that are mirror","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-researchers-work-catalysis-aid-drug-development\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UWM researchers\u2019 work in catalysis could aid drug development"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/","name":"UWM REPORT","description":"News from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg","width":225,"height":224,"caption":"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/UWMNews"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d72440401ec36965989bb00390105686","name":"UWM News","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/author\/uwmnewsuwm-edu\/"}]}},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 12:59:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36201"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36209,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36201\/revisions\/36209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36201"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=36201"},{"taxonomy":"display_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_categories?post=36201"},{"taxonomy":"related-coverage","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/related-coverage?post=36201"},{"taxonomy":"uwmnews-feed","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/uwmnews-feed?post=36201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}