Scientists from Mainz have developed a method with which counterfeit perfumes can be distinguished from real ones or healthy plants from diseased ones in the shortest possible time.

The researchers at Gutenberg University and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry made use of the phenomenon of chirality.

Like image and mirror image

Sasha Zoske

Sheet maker in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Chiral molecules of a certain substance have the same composition, but are related to each other like an image and a mirror image.

These variants of a compound often also have different chemical properties.

Both forms are usually found in nature, but in different proportions.

Depending on the shape, chiral molecules rotate polarized light in different directions.

The chemists in Mainz rely on this effect: they place gas samples in a small chamber, irradiate them with polarized light and measure their rotation.

For example, they can assess the health of pine and pine trees: these contain the odorant pinene, which occurs in two chiral forms.

The proportion of both molecule variants changes when the trees become diseased or suffer from drought stress.

Counterfeit perfumes can be identified in the same way: the counterfeit has a different chiral signature than the original.

Now the researchers hope that a portable version of their measuring device can be developed.