Advices For Studying Organic Chemistry

Figure 5.7 Only one of the two amino acid enantiomers shown can achieve
three-point binding with the hypothetical binding site (e.g., in an
enzyme).

5.4 HISTORICAL ORIGIN OF STEREOCHEMISTRY

1. Stereochemistry: founded by Louis Pasteur in 1848.


2. H. van’t Hoff (Dutch scientist) proposed a tetrahedral structure for carbon atom in
   September of 1874. J. A. Le Bel (French scientist) published the same idea
   independently in November of 1874.

1. van’t Hoff was the first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1901.

3. In 1877, Hermann Kolbe (of the University of Leipzig), one of the most eminent
   organic chemists of the time, criticized van’t Hoff’s publication on “The
   Arrangements of Atoms in Space.” as a childish fantasy.

1. He finds it more convenient to mount his Pegasus (飛馬座) (evidently taken
   from the stables of the Veterinary College) and to announce how, on his bold
   flight to Mount Parnassus (希臘中部的山;詩壇), he saw the atoms arranged in
   space.

4. The following information led van’t Hoff and Le Bel to the conclusion that the
   spatial orientation of groups around carbon atoms is tetrahedral.