Research progress of resolution of chiral drugs and their synthetic intermediates

Compared with the racemate of chiral drugs, enantiopure chiral drugs have been the hot spot of drug research because of their higher selectivity and lower side-effects. Although remarkable progress of asymmetric synthesis has been achieved in the last decades, chiral resolution is regarded as an important approach to obtain chiral drugs. Recent research advancements in the field of chiral resolution of racemic drugs and intermediates are reviewed here. It is clear that combination of chiral separation and racemization to improve the resolution efficiency has become a trend of chiral resolution. In addition, we also introduce some novel resolution methods, such as chiral extraction, membrane resolution, and resolution using nanoparticles.