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Chirality transcends traditional boundaries separating subdisciplines of the chemical sciences.
The large number of scientific studies focusing on the topic of chirality has now thrust it into
the scientific forefront, especially in biological and organic chemistry but more recently in
inorganic and organometallic chemistry. Reflecting this interest are new journals dedicated to
this topic, including: Tetrahedron: Asymmetry, Enantiomer, Chirality, and Molecular
Asymmetry, all of which complement existing journals that are themselves replete with papers on chirality.
When our proposal to the National Science Foundation was written, we looked at the 1996 Journal
of Organic Chemistry and found that 23% of all papers focused explicitly on chirality, with an
additional 27% involving stereochemistry. For Tetrahedron Letters, the numbers were 18% and 29%
respectively. Workshops, symposia and conferences dedicated to chirality are now common and popular.
Further attesting to the significance of this topic was a series of feature articles in C&E News
laying bare the fact that a whole new industry based on chirality now exists (1). This industry,
designated as "chiroscience", is a young but robust industry linking science and technology with
chemistry and biology.
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