Chiral inversion
Chiral inversion is the process of conversion of one enantiomer of a chiral molecule to its mirror-image version with no other change in the molecule. Chiral inversion happens depending on various factors (viz. biological-, solvent-, light-, temperature- induced, etc.) and the energy barrier associated with the stereogenic element present in the chiral molecule. 2-Arylpropionic acid nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) provide one of the best pharmaceutical examples of chiral inversion. Chirality is attributed to a molecule due to the presence of a stereogenic element (viz. center, planar, helical, or axis). Many pharmaceutical drugs are chiral and have a labile (configurationally unstable) stereogenic element. Chiral compounds with stereogenic center are found to have high energy barriers for inversion and generally undergo biologically mediated chiral inversion. While compounds with helical or planar chirality have low energy barriers and chiral inversions are often caused by solvent, light, temperature. When this happens, the configuration of the chiral molecule may rapidly change reversibly or irreversibly depending on the conditions. The chiral inversion has been intensively studied in the context of the pharmacological and toxicological consequences. Other than NSAIDs, chiral drugs with different chemical structures can also show this effect. Chiral drugs have different effects on the body depending on whether one enantiomer or both enantiomers act on different biological targets. As a result, chiral inversion can change how a pharmaceutical drug works in the body. From a pharmacological and toxicological point of view, it is very important to learn more about chiral inversion, the things that make it happen, and the tools used to figure out chiral inversion. (Wikipedia).
