Article · Health & Science
The Molecule It Took Chemists Forty-Four Years to Copy
Aspalathin was identified in 1965. Chemists did not manage to build it from scratch in a lab until 2010, and the reason is written into the molecule's own shape. Here is what makes rooibos's signature compound so awkward to fake, and why anyone bothered trying.
May 13, 2026 →