Preface (1st Edition)
In 1844, Louis Pasteur was the first to separate two different types of sodium
ammonium tartrate [1] which he assumed to be related to each other like two mirror
images. Few years later, this phenomenon was denominated chirality (from the
Greek word χειρ which means hand) by Lord Kelvin [2] who used the following
definition: “I call any geometrical figure or any groups of points chiral and say it has
chirality if its image in a plane mirror, ideally realised cannot be brought to coincide
with itself” (Lord Kelvin, 1883). Subsequently, a large number of compounds were
observed to fulfil these requirements. In biological systems, this phenomenon of
asymmetry was already known for quite a long time. Different snail species, for
example, are producing mirror image forms; fossils like ammonites exhibit chiral
shapes; and last but not least, the human body including feet, hands and ears can be
divided into two parts which can be regarded as two non-superimposable mirror
images.
After the breathtaking scientific findings, awarded with the Nobel Prize in 1957,
when two young Chinese-American physicists, Tsung Dao Lee and Chen Ning
Yang, proved that the parity of weak interactions is not preserved, enantiomer
selective approaches were also applied to elementary and quantum physical processes under certain conditions [3]. The simple principle that may be inferred from
symmetry considerations, according to which two structures can be identical but not
superimposable, nowadays is a basic research objective in at least four main scientific disciplines: biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics.
In the last decade, new trace analytical methods were developed to separate and
detect the enantiomers of persistent organic pollutants in a large number of environmental samples at different trophic levels. In 1991, Faller et al. as well as Kallenborn
and Hühnerfuss [4, 5] were the first to publish the successful separation of α-HCH in
seawater and marine biota samples, respectively. These early publications already
showed the potential of this relatively simple and robust enantioselective gas
chromatographic method to play a major role in assessing enzymatic transformation
processes of anthropogenic and natural organic pollutants in the environment.
ix
In 1844, Louis Pasteur was the first to separate two different types of sodium
ammonium tartrate [1] which he assumed to be related to each other like two mirror
images. Few years later, this phenomenon was denominated chirality (from the
Greek word χειρ which means hand) by Lord Kelvin [2] who used the following
definition: “I call any geometrical figure or any groups of points chiral and say it has
chirality if its image in a plane mirror, ideally realised cannot be brought to coincide
with itself” (Lord Kelvin, 1883). Subsequently, a large number of compounds were
observed to fulfil these requirements. In biological systems, this phenomenon of
asymmetry was already known for quite a long time. Different snail species, for
example, are producing mirror image forms; fossils like ammonites exhibit chiral
shapes; and last but not least, the human body including feet, hands and ears can be
divided into two parts which can be regarded as two non-superimposable mirror
images.
After the breathtaking scientific findings, awarded with the Nobel Prize in 1957,
when two young Chinese-American physicists, Tsung Dao Lee and Chen Ning
Yang, proved that the parity of weak interactions is not preserved, enantiomer
selective approaches were also applied to elementary and quantum physical processes under certain conditions [3]. The simple principle that may be inferred from
symmetry considerations, according to which two structures can be identical but not
superimposable, nowadays is a basic research objective in at least four main scientific disciplines: biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics.
In the last decade, new trace analytical methods were developed to separate and
detect the enantiomers of persistent organic pollutants in a large number of environmental samples at different trophic levels. In 1991, Faller et al. as well as Kallenborn
and Hühnerfuss [4, 5] were the first to publish the successful separation of α-HCH in
seawater and marine biota samples, respectively. These early publications already
showed the potential of this relatively simple and robust enantioselective gas
chromatographic method to play a major role in assessing enzymatic transformation
processes of anthropogenic and natural organic pollutants in the environment.
ix