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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

hasubanan alkaloids, enantioselective, enantiomers

College

Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Department

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Abstract

In nature, many molecules exist in two different forms, referred to as enantiomers. These forms are structurally identical, yet they are mirror images of each other. One simple example of this is our hands. While both hands are structurally identical, there is no way that they can be superimposed. Our hands are enantiomers, and interact differently with certain objects. For example, a left hand cannot fit a right-handed glove. Such a phenomenon occurs on the molecular level as well. A left-handed enantiomer of a drug might react with the receptors in the body in a beneficial way, while the right-handed enantiomer of the same drug could react in drastically different, potentially harmful way. One example of this is the drug thalidomide.1 Although one enantiomer of thalidomide is an effective sedative, the other enantiomer causes birth defects. Thus, in the development of drugs, chemists need reactions that will produce a single enantiomer of the drug.

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