Chiral Intermediates

Chiral chemicals are a unique class of compounds that, although chemically identical, exist as mirror images of each other called enantiomers. Chiral compounds touch many aspects of everyday life. The chirality of a compound affects how food tastes, how drugs interact in the body, and how quickly products decompose in the environment. Major identified markets for chiral compounds include:

• Pharmaceuticals.
• Agricultural chemicals.
• Food and feed additives.
• Polymers.

Production methods for chiral compounds encompass many diverse technologies. This report reviews three major technologies for the production of chiral compounds:

• Resolution by crystallization of diastereomers.
• Resolution by enzymes.
• Asymmetric synthesis by biocatalysis.