ERC Proof of Concept grant for Wim Noorduin
29 January 2026
Noorduin’s CHIRAL-MORPHS project builds on a newly developed crystallisation method that enables chemists to rapidly obtain a single version of so-called chiral molecules. These are molecules that come in different structural forms that are mirror images of each other. In analogy to the mirror images of our left and right hands, chemists call such molecular varieties left- or right-handed.
Left- and right-handedness is something we recognise instantly in our own bodies, but it also plays a crucial role at the molecular level. Many of the molecules that make up life exist in only one-handed form. This matters because mirror-image molecules can behave very differently: one may be a lifesaving medicine, while its mirror image can be ineffective or even harmful. The challenge is that most chemical reactions create these molecules in a perfectly symmetric way. This means that left- and right-handed versions form in equal amounts, making it difficult, expensive, and wasteful to isolate the useful one.
The novel crystallisation method rapidly converts mixed molecules into a single-handed form, thus adding to the toolbox of chemists to obtain the desired chiral variant. Using the Proof of Concept grant, Noorduin and his postdoc researcher Susanna Bertuletti will further develop the method. In CHIRAL-MORPHS, they aim to expand the range of compatible compounds, scale the process using standard reactors, and work with industrial partners to enable applications in biologically active molecules, including medicines and agricultural compounds.