Chiral Inactivation: An Old Phenomenon with a New Twist.

Mixing of enantiomers of chiral molecules can have remarkable effects on the properties of their higher order assemblies. This, in turn, may have profound impact on both structural and functional outcomes, and has been noted across a wide range of contexts. This account presents key examples from organic, organometallic and bioorganic molecular sciences and showcases that, in disciplines as distinct as asymmetric catalysis and racemic protein crystallography, there is a fundamental way in which enantiomers differ from racemates.