Chirality: An inescapable concept for the pharmaceutical, bio-pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industries

Chirality resides in diverse fields such as pharmaceuticals, food, bio-pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Drugs used in treating various disease conditions, the majority of the plant secondary metabolites, various chemicals used in cosmetics, and distinct flavoring agents used in food industries exhibit chirality. In this context, there is an obligation to extend the analysis to chiral aspects. Attempts have been made to summarize the systematic, successful approaches for enantiomeric production via both enantio-selective synthesis and the resolution of enantiomers using various analytical techniques including crystallization, chiral chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, kinetic resolution mediated by enzymes. Efforts have also been made to describe the regulatory guidance regarding bridging studies in the milieu of chiral switching. The majority of the monoclonal antibodies, growth factors, blood components, deoxyribonucleic acids, enzymes, and even vaccines for various diseases like cancer, polio, malaria, tetanus, hepatitis B, cholera, diphtheria bind differently to the receptors because the majority of drug binding and antibody binding receptors are also exhibiting chirality. Recent advancements in the various analytical techniques involved in the chiral analysis of food to preserve the authenticity of distinct flavors and cosmetics to identify safer enantiomers and reduce side effects both to humans and the environment are described.