text: Many atropisomers occur in nature, and some have applications to drug design. The natural product mastigophorene A has been found to aid in nerve growth.
  Other examples of naturally occurring atropisomers include vancomycin isolated from an Actinobacterium, and knipholone, which is found in the roots of Kniphofia foliosa of the family Asphodelaceae.  The structure complexity in vancomycin is significant because it can bind with peptides due to the complexity of its stereochemistry, which includes multiple stereocenters, two chiral planes in its stereogenic biaryl axis. Knipholone, with its axial chirality, occurs in nature and has been shown to offer good antimalarial and antitumor activities particularly in the M form.
  The use of atropisomeric drugs provides an additional way for drugs to have stereochemical variations and specificity in design. One example is , a drug that was discovered to aid in chemotherapy cancer treatment.
  Telenzepine is atropisomeric in the conformation of its central thienobenzodiazepine ring. The two enantiomers have been resolved, and it was found that the (+)-isomer which is about 500-fold more active than the (–)-isomer at muscarinic receptors in rat cerebral cortex. However, drug design is not always aided by atropisomerism. In some cases, making drugs from atropisomers is challenging because isomers may interconvert faster than expected. Atropisomers also might interact differently in the body, and as with other types of stereoisomers, it is important to examine these properties before administering drugs to patients.