Chiral drugs racemic mixtures

A much more serious drawback to using chiral drugs as racemic mixtures is illustrated by thalidomide briefly employed as a sedative and antinausea drug in Europe during the period 1959-1962 The desired properties are those of (/ ) thalidomide (S) Thalido mide however has a very different spectrum of bio logical activity and was shown to be responsible for over 2000 cases of serious birth defects in children born to women who took it while pregnant... 

When chiral, drugs and other molecules obtained from natural sources or by semisynthesis usually contain one of the possible enantiomeric forms. However, those obtained by total synthesis often consist of mixtures of both enantiomers. In order to develop commercially the isolated enantiomers, two alternative approaches can be considered (i) enantioselective synthesis of the desired enantiomer or (ii) separation of both isomers from a racemic mixture. The separation can be performed on the target molecule or on one of its chemical precursors obtained from conventional synthetic procedures. Both strategies have their advantages and drawbacks. 

Most of the chiral membrane-assisted applications can be considered as a modality of liquid-liquid extraction, and will be discussed in the next section. However, it is worth mentioning here a device developed by Keurentjes et al., in which two miscible chiral liquids with opposing enantiomers of the chiral selector flow counter-currently through a column, separated by a nonmiscible liquid membrane [179]. In this case the selector molecules are located out of the liquid membrane and both enantiomers are needed. The system allows recovery of the two enantiomers of the racemic mixture to be separated. Thus, using dihexyltartrate and poly(lactic acid), the authors described the resolution of different drugs, such as norephedrine, salbu-tamol, terbutaline, ibuprofen or propranolol. 

Those drugs that come from natural sources, either directly or after chemical modification, are usually chiral and are generally found only as a single enantiomer rather than as a racemic mixture. Penicillin V, for example, an antibiotic isolated from the Pemcillimti mold, has the 2S,SR,6R configuration. Its enantiomer, which does not occur naturally but can be made in the laboratory, has no antibiotic activity. 

Many nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are substituted 2-arylpropionic acids. Most NSAIDs also have a chiral carbon next to the carboxylate and are administered as a racemic mixture of the two enantiomers. In general, the (S)-enantiomcr is responsible for most of the antiinflammatory activity of these agents. It was found that the (/ -enantiomer is converted to the (S)-enantiomer but the reverse does not occur (23). As with amino acid conjugation, the pathway involves reaction with ATP to form an AMP ester, which is, in turn, converted to a Co-A ester, and it is the Co-A ester that undergoes chiral inversion (Fig. 7.14). Substrates include ibuprofen, naproxen, and fenoprofen. 

The two forms of mirror images are called enantiomers, or stereoisomers. All amino acids in proteins are left-handed, and all sugars in DNA and RNA are right-handed. Drug molecules with chiral centers when synthesized without special separation steps in the reaction process result in 50/50 mixtures of both the left- and right-handed forms. The mixture is often referred to as a racemic mixture. 

Refer to Section 3.6. Chiral drugs are more effective than racemic mixtures as they can better interact with active sites to alter disease progression. An important example is the case of omeprazole and esomeprazole (Exhibit 3.16). It is also strategically important for pharmaceutical companies to work on chiral drugs to further the product life cycle and compete with generics. 

Manufacturing of chiral drugs has become increasingly important hrst to improve potency, second to improve yield, and third to extend the patent life for approved drugs based on racemic mixtures. Stereoselective synthetic methods are used to produce chiral drugs. There are three basic methods being applied ... 

There are two approaches to producing drugs as a single enantiomer. If a synthetic route produces a racemic mixture, then it is possible to separate the two enantiomers by a process known as resolution (see Section 3.4.8). This is often a tedious process and, of course, half of the product is then not required. The alternative approach, and the one now favoured, is to design a synthesis that produces only the required enantiomer, i.e. a chiral synthesis. 

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