The importance of stereochemistry in catalysis arises from the fact that many biological molecules, such as proteins and enzymes, are chiral. Chirality is the property of a molecule that makes it non-superimposable on its mirror image. This means that two chiral molecules, known as enantiomers, can have vastly different biological activities. Catalysts that can control the formation of one enantiomer over the other are highly valuable in fields like pharmaceuticals, where the desired biological activity is often associated with a specific enantiomer.
