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An example of such an enantiomer is the sedative thalidomide, which was sold in a number of countries around the world from 1957 until 1961. It was withdrawn from the market when it was found to cause birth defects. One enantiomer caused the desirable sedative effects, while the other, unavoidably [23] present in equal quantities, caused birth ...
Macroscopic examples of chirality are found in the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom and all other groups of organisms. A simple example is the coiling direction of any climber plant, which can grow to form either a left- or right-handed helix. In anatomy, chirality is found in the imperfect mirror image symmetry of many kinds of animal bodies.
For a chiral molecule with one or more stereocenter, the enantiomer corresponds to the stereoisomer in which every stereocenter has the opposite configuration. An organic compound with only one stereogenic carbon is always chiral. On the other hand, an organic compound with multiple stereogenic carbons is typically, but not always, chiral.
Homochirality can also refer to enantiopure substances in which all the constituents are the same enantiomer (a right-handed or left-handed version of an atom or molecule), but some sources discourage this use of the term. It is unclear whether homochirality has a purpose; however, it appears to be a form of information storage. [2]
An enantiopure drug is a pharmaceutical that is available in one specific enantiomeric form. Most biological molecules (proteins, sugars, etc.) are present in only one of many chiral forms, so different enantiomers of a chiral drug molecule bind differently (or not at all) to target receptors.
They can reside in the pharmacologically active enantiomer (eutomer) or in the inactive one (distomer). [41] [42] [43] The toxicologic differences between enantiomers of have also been demonstrated. The following are examples of some of the chiral drugs where their toxic/undesirable side-effects dwell almost in the distomer.
As examples, esomeprazole is a chiral switch of (±)-omeprazole and levocetirizine is a chiral switch of (±)-cetirizine. While often only one enantiomer of the drug may be active, there are cases in which the other enantiomer is harmful, like salbutamol [11] and thalidomide. The (R) enantiomer of thalidomide is effective against morning ...
Glyceraldehyde has one chiral center and therefore exists as two different enantiomers with opposite optical rotation: . In the D/L nomenclature, either D from Latin Dexter meaning "right", or L from Latin Laevo meaning "left"