Whats the function of chiral compounds in medicine?

Question

Whats the function of chiral compounds in medicine?

Answer 1

Chirality plays an important role in the uptake of pharmaceutically active compounds present in medicine. The conformation of a compound determines whether it will be biologically active and therefore help someone recover from sickness.

Answer 2

Biological molecules are chiral, and the action of drugs depends on the matching of shape between the drug molecule and a biological molecule. So a drug molecule of the wrong chirality may simply not fit, like a left-hand thread into a right-hand socket, or it may have completely different and sometimes very harmful activity.

Thalidomide was prescribed as a mixture of both chiral forms. it is widely suspected that one of the chiral forms was actually a good drug; you know what the other one did.