ABSTRACT
Chirality of pharmaceutical products is an important issue related to effective and safe therapy. The tragedy of thalidomide and development of stereospecific analytical techniques resulted in broadening of studies on drug quality and inclusion of monitoring of biological activity and pharmacokinetics of stereoisomers. Main emphasis was placed on pharmacological consequences of chiral drugs administration, technological processes leading to new stereoisomeric drugs and their analytics, as well as on requirements for their registration. An increase in bioavailability of drugs as homoisomers is a promising way of delivery of novel, safer, more efficacious, and better-tolerated pharmaceuticals. Chirality as a property of molecule is related to its chemical structure without any element of internal symmetry. The enantiomers have identical physicochemical properties, such as melting point, solubility, polarity, and hydrophobicity, in contrast to chiral diastereoisomers. Different separation methods may be applied for enantioseparation of chiral drugs and their chiral precursors or metabolites.
