Natural-Products-Inspired Use of the gem -Dimethyl Group in Medicinal Chemistry

of nearby functionality, (5) induce symmetry into a monomethyl substituted chiral center, and (6) apply the Thorpe-Ingold conformational effect in an o-hydroxydihydrocinnamic acid based prodrug design. The aim of this Perspective is to illustrate how medicinal chemists have elegantly employed the gem-dimethyl group to obtain clinically useful drugs and to provide synthetic methods to install a gem-dimethyl group.