Enantiomers

Enantiomers are a pair of molecules that are non-superimposable mirror images of each other. They are a type of stereoisomer and are important in many areas, including chemistry, biochemistry, and pharmaceuticals.

Overview

Enantiomers are a type of chiral molecule. Chirality is a property of a molecule that is not superimposable on its mirror image. This means that the molecule cannot be superimposed on its mirror image any more than a left hand can be superimposed on a right hand.

Enantiomers have the same physical and chemical properties, such as boiling point, melting point, and solubility. However, they interact differently with plane-polarized light and with other chiral molecules. This can lead to different biological effects. For example, one enantiomer of a drug may be therapeutically active while the other is not.

Properties

Enantiomers have the same physical properties except for the direction in which they rotate polarized light. This property is called optical activity. One enantiomer will rotate light in a clockwise direction (dextrorotatory), while the other will rotate light in a counterclockwise direction (levorotatory).

Enantiomers also have the same chemical properties, meaning they react in the same way with achiral reagents. However, they react differently with other chiral molecules. This is because the spatial arrangement of the atoms in the molecule is different.

Biological Significance

Enantiomers can have different biological effects because biological systems are chiral. For example, the amino acids that make up proteins are all L-enantiomers, while the sugars in DNA and RNA are all D-enantiomers.

In pharmaceuticals, the different biological effects of enantiomers can be significant. One enantiomer of a drug may be therapeutically active, while the other may be inactive or even harmful. This has led to the development of single-enantiomer drugs, where only the active enantiomer is administered.

See Also

• Chirality (chemistry)
• Stereoisomer
• Optical activity
• Pharmaceuticals

Enantiomers Resources
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