A lot of our medicines and other bioactive drugs are based on chemical structures called enantiomers—molecules that are mirror images of each other and are non-superimposable. Notable among them are chiral N,N-acetals contained in diuretic drugs like bendroflumethiazide and thiabutazide, used to treat high blood pressure and edema. Because an enantiomer and its mirror image version often have different biological activities, with only one of them having pharmacological utility, an enantioselective or asymmetric synthesis yielding the desired enantiomer in greater amounts is highly desirable.