Pasteur and chirality: A story of how serendipity favors the prepared minds

Vantomme, Ghislaine; Crassous, Jeanne

doi:10.1002/chir.23349

Cited by 34 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In fact, it was Pasteur's ground-breaking experiments, described at the beginning of this article, to demonstrate that stereochemistry was the link between optical activity and the molecular structure of tartrate and paratartrate and their salts that brought the two men together. This episode was recently clearly re-explained in a noteworthy 2021 article by Ghislaine Vantomme and Jeanne Crassous [3]. Remarkably, Pasteur noticed under a magnifying lens that the chemically identical paratartrate crystals were in fact two types of dissymmetric crystals, each one manifesting a tiny symmetrical facet that was the mirror image of the other and could not be superimposed.…”

Section: Jean-baptiste Biot: More Than a Mentormentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Pasteur's understanding that fermentation is a "vital act" or a biological process of living organisms was indeed a eureka moment in that it was the starting point that directed him to a series of subsequent discoveries. This led Pasteur to conclude that "The universe is asymmetric and I am persuaded that life, as it is known to us, is a direct result of the asymmetry of the universe or of its indirect consequences," a hypothesis still actively debated today [3].…”

Section: La Version Française De L'article Est Disponible à La Suite ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Louis Pasteur: the child is father of the man

Brey¹

2022

Comptes Rendus. Biologies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

I attempt in this essay to shed new light on the origins of Louis Pasteur's uniquely progressive mind and spirit and the various factors in his background and upbringing that shaped them. There is, however, very limited documentation on the early period of Pasteur's life, apart from his son-inlaw's (René Vallery-Radot) biographical account, and this is considered by many as more akin to a work of hagiography. We do have, on the other hand, Pasteur's correspondence with his parents and sisters as compiled and annotated by his grandson, Louis Pasteur Vallery-Radot. Using these limited sources, combined with what we know about Pasteur's home environment and early education, his cultural influences (like the books he read), and his drawings and etchings, I have attempted in this essay to hypothesize regarding the influences during Pasteur's childhood, adolescence, and very early adult years as a scientist and how they contributed to the formation of Pasteur's mind and spirit, while fully acknowledging the extent to which this is based on indirect evidence and, occasionally, outright speculation.Résumé. J'essaie dans cet essai d'apporter un éclairage nouveau sur les origines de l'esprit progressiste unique de Pasteur et sur les divers facteurs de son passé et de son éducation qui les ont façonnés. Il existe cependant très peu de documentation sur les débuts de la vie de Pasteur, à l'exception du récit biographique de son gendre (René Vallery-Radot), qui est considéré par beaucoup comme un ouvrage d'hagiographie. En revanche, nous disposons de la correspondance de Pasteur avec ses parents et ses soeurs, compilée et annotée par son petit-fils, Louis Pasteur Vallery-Radot. En utilisant ces sources limitées, combinées avec ce que nous savons de l'environnement familial et de l'éducation précoce de Pasteur, de ses influences culturelles (comme les livres qu'il lisait), et de ses dessins et gravures, j'ai tenté dans cet essai de formuler des hypothèses concernant les influences de l'enfance, de l'adolescence et des toutes premières années d'adulte de Pasteur en tant que scientifique et comment elles ont contribué à la formation de l'esprit de Pasteur, tout en reconnaissant pleinement la mesure dans laquelle cela est basé sur des preuves indirectes et, parfois, des spéculations pures et simples.

show abstract

Section: Jean-baptiste Biot: More Than a Mentormentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: La Version Française De L'article Est Disponible à La Suite ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Louis Pasteur: the child is father of the man

Brey¹

2022

Comptes Rendus. Biologies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Interaction of light with chiral compounds is indeed a fascinating field ever since it was discovered by Louis Pasteur. 1…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Raman optical activity spectrometer can sensitively detect lanthanide circularly polarized luminescence

2022

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This sentence by Louis Pasteur was uttered during his inaugural address at the opening of the Faculté des Sciences at Lille, France, on December 7, 1854 . Pasteur was referring to his observation of the difference in optical activity between two sets of tartaric acid salt, corresponding to two types of dissymmetric crystals of paratartaric acid, thus providing the first evidence for molecular dissymmetry (i.e., chirality) …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…142 Pasteur was referring to his observation of the difference in optical activity between two sets of tartaric acid salt, corresponding to two types of dissymmetric crystals of paratartaric acid, thus providing the first evidence for molecular dissymmetry (i.e., chirality). 143 The interest of Kurt for serendipity was already surfacing in a review coauthored with Maurice Franssen in 1993: 144 "A classic example of deracemization (and serendipity!) is the finding of Hasegawa et al, 145 who tried to resolve racemic 1,2diols using various strains of yeast".…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Career in Biocatalysis: Kurt Faber

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a synthetic organic chemist by training, strongly influenced the field of biocatalysis throughout the course of his four-decade career (from the late 1980s to the early 2020s). The evolution of his career has gone hand in hand with the development of biocatalysis into a mature and versatile discipline originally deep-rooted in organic chemistry that quickly integrated techniques from molecular biology. His work has provided numerous grounds for recognizing natural catalysts as essential tools in organic synthesis, complementing the more chemical approaches. An important aspect of Kurt Faber's career encompasses teaching, mentoring, and encouraging the development of younger scientists worldwide. His book, Biotransformations in Organic Chemistry, now in its seventh edition, has become a recognized tool for training generations of chemists and biotechnologists and remains a reference worldwide. At Biotrans 2021, the 15th International Symposium on Biocatalysis and Biotransformations (originally scheduled to be held in Graz, Austria, and eventually held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Kurt Faber received the Biotrans senior award in recognition of his innovative contributions to the field. In this Account, we would like to acknowledge his contributions to the field of biocatalysis, highlighting both the growing importance of this discipline in many (industrial) sectors and the profound changes that have occurred in recent decades, while reflecting on some of Kurt Faber's most important discoveries and his legacy to this field.

show abstract

Pasteur and chirality: A story of how serendipity favors the prepared minds

Cited by 34 publications

References 12 publications

Louis Pasteur: the child is father of the man

Louis Pasteur: the child is father of the man

A Raman optical activity spectrometer can sensitively detect lanthanide circularly polarized luminescence

A Career in Biocatalysis: Kurt Faber

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About