Process Economics Program Report 232
Published: March 2001
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.
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