Why is chirality important in organic chemistry?

Even with this structural similarity, we would find it extremely difficult to clasp right and left hands if I did have a twin like that. His left hand would be nearly exactly the same as my right hand (interestingly, we WOULD have different sets of fingerprints, but this is by the by).

It is a fact that most sugars have a specific chirality, or they are right-handed. Most proteins and enzymes that catalyze the metabolism of sugars also have a peculiar and particular handedness. We could even synthesize enantiomeric glucose, but our biochemistry would not be able to metabolize it because our enzymes are specifically selected for a specific optical substrate, which is right-handed sugars.

We could thus argue that stereocontrol is a vital element in drug discovery and function, and that knowledge of stereochemistry and chirality are the first steps to achieving such control. Sometimes, in drug synthesis, the consequences of poor stereocontrol can be disastrous. Look at the history of thalidomide, for example, for which the wrong stereoisomer led to appalling consequences.

Chirality is important in organic chemistry due to its influence on molecular properties, reactivity, and biological interactions, especially in the pharmaceutical and biological fields. Enantiomers, which are chiral molecules, exhibit different biological activities and can have distinct effects in living organisms.