Research indicates that Albuterol, a drug used to relax bronchial muscles, improving airflow and thus offering relief from asthm
a, consists only of one enantiomer, the R-form. Why is it important for this drug to consist of only one enantiomeric form, rather than a mixture of enantiomers?
Different enantiomers may have different or opposite physiological effects.
Explanation:
Enantiomers are organic molecules that are so named because of their shape, because for each enantiomer there is an identical but inverted shape, as if it were in front of a mirror. In other words, enantiomers are a type of isomer. Enantiomers may be the basis of therapeutic substances, since amino acids and sugars are enantiomers, and as these substances are enantiomers of each other, in different cases they have chemical similarities that allow them to be the basis of these substances. However, it is important that drugs consist of only one enantiomeric form rather than a mixture of enantiomers because different enantiomers may have different or opposite physiological effects.
