Researchers at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) in Tarragona have developed a method that transforms cyclic carbonates that can be easily obtained from CO2 into more valuable, chiral molecules chemists call vicinal amino-alcohols. Amino-alcohols are used in a myriad of drugs such as antimalarials, antivirals (like Tamiflu), analgesics and antiarrhythmics.