September 10, 2026

In 2018, regulators pulled valsartan tablets off shelves worldwide after finding trace amounts of a chemical called NDMA inside the active ingredient. Ranitidine and metformin followed a similar path over the next two years. The common thread was a class of compounds known as nitrosamines, and the fallout changed how the entire industry looks at […]

Most drug molecules on the market today carry at least one stereocenter, and the atom that becomes that stereocenter usually starts out flat, symmetric, and achiral. Chemists call this starting point prochiral. It’s not a chiral molecule yet, but it’s one reaction away from becoming one. This idea sits at the center of asymmetric synthesis.