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Many drugs have mirror image chemical structures – while one may be helpful, the other may be harmful

  • Written by Sajish Mathew, Assistant Professor of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, University of South Carolina
Many drugs have mirror image chemical structures – while one may be helpful, the other may be harmfulDrugs can convert between different isomers in the body, leading to unexpected effects.Dmitrii Guzhanin/iStock via Getty Images

The effects a drug or chemical compound have on the body depend on how its atoms are arranged in space. Some compounds have a dark twin with the same molecular formula but different 3D structure – and this can have...

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