Science: divide and rule! Use magnets to separate drugs with fewer side effects

May 16, 2018 / Biovalley BIOON / - -- now, in a new study, Professor Yossi palliel of Hebrew University in Israel and Professor Ron Naaman of weizman Institute of Science in Israel and their colleagues have developed a breakthrough technology that can be used to produce drugs with fewer side effects The relevant research results were published online in Science Journal on May 10, 2018, and the paper title is "separation of enablers by their enabling specific interaction with acute magnetic subsidiaries" Chiral molecule, picture from palitel and Naaman Compounds are made up of molecules The most important molecule in biology is chiral molecule "Chirality", derived from the Greek word "hand", is used to describe molecules that look almost identical They contain the same number of atoms, but mirror each other - that is to say, some molecules are "left-handed", while others are "right-handed" This different "chirality" is crucial and will produce different biological effects Through thalidomide, people can understand the chirality difference very clearly In the 1950s and 1960s, pregnant women took the drug to relieve morning sickness Under the microscope, thalidomide played a good role However, thalidomide is a chiral drug - its "right-handed" molecule has the effect of alleviating nausea, while its "left-handed" molecule can cause terrible infant deformities Given that the pharmaceutical companies that make thalidomide do not separate right-handed and left-handed molecules, thalidomide has devastating consequences for the children of women taking the drug Although the safety of drugs is very important, it is an expensive process to separate chiral molecules into right-handed and left-handed components However, after a decade of collaborative research, paltiel and Naaman have found a common and unified approach that will allow pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers to easily and cheaply separate right-handed and left-handed molecules Their method depends on magnets Chiral molecules interact with magnetic substrates and are arranged according to their chirality direction -- the "left-handed" molecule interacts with one pole of the magnet better, while the "right-handed" molecule interacts with the other pole of the magnet better This technology will allow chemical manufacturers to retain "good" chiral molecules and discard "bad" ones that cause harmful or adverse side effects "Our findings have important practical implications," Naaman said It will usher in a better and safer era of drugs and a more environmentally friendly era of pesticides " Although popular drugs, such as Ritalin and cipramil, are sold in the form of chiral pure (i.e separated), many common drugs are not Although the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends the separation of all chiral drugs, currently only 13% of the chiral drugs are separated In addition, in the field of agricultural chemicals, chiral pure pesticides and fertilizers can play a better role and cause less environmental pollution than their unseparated counterparts Taking these statistics into account, paltiel and Naaman's simple and cost-effective chiral separation technology is capable of producing better medical and agricultural products, including drugs, food ingredients, dietary supplements and pesticides "With the help of the weizman Institute of science and the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University, we are now transforming our science and technology into practical applications," concluded paltiel Putting better medical and environmental products on the market is a win-win situation for both the industry and patients " (BIOON Com) reference: koyel banerjee-ghosh1, *, Oren Ben dor2, *, Francesco tassinari et al Separation of enablers by their enabling specific interaction with acute magnetic affiliates Science, published online: 10 may 2018, DOI: 10.1126/science.aar4265