As a science student of the 21^st century, I strongly support and believe in a change in the way that people think about education, and how it should be thought. A clever Art & Science Project has been put in place to test one's creativity and divergent thinking. In order to approach such a task, I have decided to do an interdisciplinary work that integrates concepts from organic chemistry and Biology, as well as concepts from physics. The main focus of my artwork was to underline the importance of chiral molecules, more specifically enantiomers.

In biology, a "lock and key" explanation is used to show the enzyme-substrate relationship. Enzymes are a crucial component to bodily functioning since they act as biological catalysts. Enzymes possess an active site, where only a specific type of reactant can fit, and thus the catalyst reaction can occur. Such a lock and key fit is put in question, when considering chiral molecules. Although one chiral reactant can fit the active site of an enzyme, the reactant's enantiomer might not be able to.

This type of behavior intrigued my attention, and research was done to elaborate, on how a molecule can vary in its use, simply by having different 3-dimensional orientations1 (chiral). One type of interaction that is affected by enantiomers are those that occur during the reaction of odorants in the nose. For example, the (S) form of limonene will act with the nasal receptors to emit a lemon smell, while the (R) form will lead to an orange smell. The mechanism of this is explained in the ESP component of this paper.

In my artwork, I created an electrical circuit, which requires a type of lock and key system, in order to turn on a light bulb. The "key" aspect of this project is represented by two generic enantiomers. The respective atoms of these enantiomers have been equipped with electrical components, and only when placed accordingly, will current flow through the circuit. In this case, one tetrahedral base was built to satisfy the lock and key mechanism, while its enantiomer, does fit the same mechanism. At the top of the box, there is a triangle pattern, and when all three components of the "key" are placed accordingly by color, the circuit is closed, and current is allowed to flow. In such a case, there is only one of the two enantiomers that will fit the color-specific pattern, therefore making it crucial to choose the right enantiomer. For qualitative purposes, the (R) and (S) conformations will be attributed by linking the atoms in the following manner: RED → BLUE → GREEN. Where the (R)-isomer activates the circuit, and the (S)-isomer does not. The purpose of this work is to underline the importance of classifying enantiomers differently, since they vary in their use.