Relative chirality index: a novel approach to the characterization of molecular chirality.

Abstract

Chiral compounds are being increasingly used as pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals to limit potential side effects of a drug, such as the thalidomide tragedy, and to limit the chemical load on the environment. Therefore it is important to be able to model properties of chiral compounds so such side effects can be avoided. A new method to encode information about the chirality of molecules is described herein. The Relative Chirality Index (RCI) was devised to encode chirality information. This index was shown to be useful to encode information about different molecules. The index is able to differentiate one stereoisomer from another in a logical manner. An application of this index to experimental data is also described.