Discovered at the end of the 19th century by Buchner, a German chemist, enzymes quickly demonstrated a catalytic activity essential for living organisms. For a biochemical reaction that would normally take 12 days, the addition of enzymes makes it happen in 1 second, which is a million times faster !

If you place a molecule without a symmetry plane in front of a mirror, you'll see the same molecule twice, but it has a non-superimposable "right" structure and "left" structure; these molecules are called stereo-isomers. This is not an unimportant phenomenon because, in nature, two stereo-isomers can have totally opposed properties. In pharmacy, there are some cases where one of the chiral forms is curative and the other toxic, hence the importance of properly identifying them!

The most widely consumed drug in the world has been around for a very long time! Produced from the bark of the willow tree, it was prescribed by the Egyptian and Romans to alleviate pain and fever. Isolated for the first time in 1829 by a French pharmacist, it wasn't until 1899 that a German firm marketed it in its current form: acetylsalicylic acid.

This category includes some very well known names, like nitroglycerin or TNT. These are used industrially to get rid of voluminous obstacles. But there are other less dangerous explosive molecules used for more playful uses, like fireworks!

Extracted from natural sources since Antiquity, dyes originated the chemical industry at the end of the 19th century. Indigo was the first among them. As for purple dye, its industrial synthesis eliminated the need to gather 12 000 glands from murex, a mollusk, to obtain slightly less than 1 gram of dye!