When alanine is produced in a laboratory under normal conditions, a mixture is obtained, half of which consists of (R)-alanine and half of (S)-alanine.

In an asymmetric synthesis an excess of one of these forms is produced. To achieve this, in a catalytic way – that is, with the aid of a molecule that speeds up the reaction without being consumed itself – is what this year’s Nobel Laureate’s have accomplished.

Since the cells’ actors are chiral, many pharmaceutical drugs also have to be chiral. Thus a flourishing pharmaceutical industry has grown up in the wake of the Laureates’ achievements.