Many compounds of biological and pharmacological interest are as- metric and show optical activity. Approximately 40% of the drugs in use are known to be chiral and only about 25% are administered as pure enantiomers. It is well established that the pharmacological activity is mostly restricted to one of the enantiomers (eutomer). In several cases, unwanted side effects or even toxic effects may occur with the inactive enantiomer (distomer). Even if the side effects are not that drastic, the inactive enantiomer has to be meta- lized, which represents an unnecessary burden for the organism....
Many compounds of biological and pharmacological interest are as- metric and show optical activity. Approximately 40% of the drugs in use are known to...