ABSTRACT
Every pharmacological and toxicological laboratory should be able to carry out enantioselective chromatographic separations. In 1858, Louis Pasteur reported that the dextro form of ammonium tartrate was more rapidly destroyed by the mold Penicillium glaucum than the levo isomer, Pasteur's work led him to the recognition of the role stereochemistry plays in the basic mechanisms of life. To a great extent, "highly sophisticated scientific nonsense" has been produced because pharmacologists and toxicologists lacked adequate analytical techniques. Enantiomers usually differ in their pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and toxicity, and these differences are often dramatic; vide supra Dr. Scarpetta's revelations regarding dextro- and levomethorphan. Enantiomeric differences in potency often arise from the fact that while both isomers fit into the same receptor, one fits better than the other and elicits a stronger response. The enantiomers of a chiral drug may also differ in their pharmacokinetics, metabolism and pharmacodynamic profiles.
