Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Chirality (chemistry)
Summary
In chemistry, a molecule or ion is called chiral (ˈkaɪrəl) if it cannot be superposed on its by any combination of rotations, translations, and some conformational changes. This geometric property is called chirality (kaɪˈrælɪti). The terms are derived from Ancient Greek χείρ (cheir) 'hand'; which is the canonical example of an object with this property.
A chiral molecule or ion exists in two stereoisomers that are mirror images of each other, called enantiomers; they are often distinguished as either "right-handed" or "left-handed" by their absolute configuration or some other criterion. The two enantiomers have the same chemical properties, except when reacting with other chiral compounds. They also have the same physical properties, except that they often have opposite optical activities. A homogeneous mixture of the two enantiomers in equal parts is said to be racemic, and it usually differs chemically and physically from the pure enantiomers.
Chiral molecules will usually have a stereogenic element from which chirality arises. The most common type of stereogenic element is a stereogenic center, or stereocenter. In the case of organic compounds, stereocenters most frequently take the form of a carbon atom with four distinct groups attached to it in a tetrahedral geometry. A given stereocenter has two possible configurations, which give rise to stereoisomers (diastereomers and enantiomers) in molecules with one or more stereocenter. For a chiral molecule with one or more stereocenter, the enantiomer corresponds to the stereoisomer in which every stereocenter has the opposite configuration. An organic compound with only one stereogenic carbon is always chiral. On the other hand, an organic compound with multiple stereogenic carbons is typically, but not always, chiral. In particular, if the stereocenters are configured in such a way that the molecule can take a conformation having a plane of symmetry or an inversion point, then the molecule is achiral and is known as a meso compound.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Ontological neighbourhood
Related courses (12)
CH-335: Asymmetric synthesis and retrosynthesis
La première partie du cours décrit les méthodes classiques de synthèse asymétrique. La seconde partie du cours traite des stratégies de rétrosynthèse basées sur l'approche par disconnection.
CH-120: Advanced general chemistry II
Acquisition des notions fondamentales liées à la réactivité des molécules organiques, identification de la structure de petites molécules organiques au moyen des techniques de spectrométrie de masse,
CH-435: Asymmetric catalysis for fine chemicals synthesis
The asymmetric synthesis of fine chemicals is a research topic of growing importance for the synthesis of modern materials, drugs and agrochemicals. In this lecture, the concepts of asymmetric catalys