Chapter 1
Introduction
Scientific knowledge on the three-dimensional structure of complex molecules today
is a fundamental prerequisite for many disciplines associated with life sciences. The
receptor–target molecule interactions and the specific linkages on the receptor sites
play a crucial role in explaining biochemical processes and toxicological mechanisms in the case of hazardous substances (Speranza et al. 2009; Queneau et al.
2011).
1.1 General Considerations
During the past four decades, chemical analytical methods for the determination of
enantiomeric signatures have found their way into a broad range of modern scientific
environmental applications (Bakhtiar et al. 2001; Kraft and Frater 2001; Liu et al.
2009; Ulrich et al. 2012; Basheer 2017; Zhang et al. 2017), including risk assessment
of novel chiral environmental pollutants, investigation of degradation pathways,
identification of bioactive substances (biogenic and anthropogenic) and novel environmental toxicity endpoints. This recent expansion of enantiomer-specific research
strategies in environmental sciences impressively illustrates the scientific relevance
of the stereochemical phenomenon “chirality” as important feature for the elucidation of life processes in modern environmental sciences (Bonner 1998; Cintas 2008;
Fuss 2009).
Created as an important separation technique in pharmaceutical product development, enantiomer-selective chromatographic separation in combination with
highly sensitive and selective detection methods were introduced as tools in environmental chemistry for investigating and assessing the transformation and degradation potential of chiral environmental pollutants in the early 1990s (Hühnerfuss
et al. 1993). During the following decades, the principles of enantiomer-specific
separation were gradually introduced into a large variety of research fields in the
scientific realm of environmental research. The current edition of our book intends to
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
R. Kallenborn et al., Chiral Environmental Pollutants,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62456-9_1
1
Introduction
Scientific knowledge on the three-dimensional structure of complex molecules today
is a fundamental prerequisite for many disciplines associated with life sciences. The
receptor–target molecule interactions and the specific linkages on the receptor sites
play a crucial role in explaining biochemical processes and toxicological mechanisms in the case of hazardous substances (Speranza et al. 2009; Queneau et al.
2011).
1.1 General Considerations
During the past four decades, chemical analytical methods for the determination of
enantiomeric signatures have found their way into a broad range of modern scientific
environmental applications (Bakhtiar et al. 2001; Kraft and Frater 2001; Liu et al.
2009; Ulrich et al. 2012; Basheer 2017; Zhang et al. 2017), including risk assessment
of novel chiral environmental pollutants, investigation of degradation pathways,
identification of bioactive substances (biogenic and anthropogenic) and novel environmental toxicity endpoints. This recent expansion of enantiomer-specific research
strategies in environmental sciences impressively illustrates the scientific relevance
of the stereochemical phenomenon “chirality” as important feature for the elucidation of life processes in modern environmental sciences (Bonner 1998; Cintas 2008;
Fuss 2009).
Created as an important separation technique in pharmaceutical product development, enantiomer-selective chromatographic separation in combination with
highly sensitive and selective detection methods were introduced as tools in environmental chemistry for investigating and assessing the transformation and degradation potential of chiral environmental pollutants in the early 1990s (Hühnerfuss
et al. 1993). During the following decades, the principles of enantiomer-specific
separation were gradually introduced into a large variety of research fields in the
scientific realm of environmental research. The current edition of our book intends to
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
R. Kallenborn et al., Chiral Environmental Pollutants,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62456-9_1
1