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Turkish Journal of Chemistry, Vol.40, No.4, 535-545, 2016
Prostereoisomerism and biological activity: possible implications for drug design
Prostereoisomerism (PIM), representing a subgroup within the achiral class of molecules, is manifested in a chiral environment. Although this is regardless of the orientation of the prostereoisomeric (PIC) molecule, PIM is manifested most emphatically in relation to a chiral surface ('two-dimensional chirality'). Then PIM is tantamount to 'de facto chirality' as attachment of the PIC molecule to the surface leads to diastereomeric possibilities (cf. Ogston's hypothesis). Furthermore, the formation of host-guest complexes requires a steric complementarity between the component molecules. The fact that the weak dispersive forces involved therein require an optimum distance implies a 'snugness of fit' criterion. This further implies that a chiral host prefers a chiral guest molecule, and a chiral surface prefers a PIC molecule as substrate. These indicate a general stereochemical criterion for host-guest complexation that is particularly relevant to the case of biological receptors. Indeed, a survey of several known achiral drug molecules indicates that they generally possess at least one PIC moiety, lending credence to the above arguments. Thus, it would appear that PIM represents a maximum level of molecular symmetry for biological activity to be manifested efficiently.