Unit 30 Isomerism

Achiral

Achiral - the property of a molecule (or object) that is superposable on its mirror image

Chain isomer

Chain isomer - isomers that have the same functional groups but different carbon skeletons

Chiral

Chiral - the property of ‘handedness’, that is left and right hands cannot be placed on each other so that all parts coincide

Chiral carbon

Chiral carbon - a carbon atom bonded to four different atoms or groups of atoms

Direction of propagation

Direction of propagation - the direction that the light pass through

Enantiomer

Enantiomer - stereoisomers whose molecules are non-superposable mirror images of each other

Functional group isomer

Functional group isomer - isomers that have the same molecular formula but contain different functional groups

Isomer

Isomer - different compounds that have the same molecular formula

Isomerism

Isomerism - a phenomenon that compounds possess the same molecular formula but their atoms are arranged in different ways

Optically active

Optically active - the property of a substance to perturb plane-polarized light

Plane of symmetry

Plane of symmetry - an imaginary plane that bisects a molecule in such a way that the two halves are mirror reflections of each other

Plane-polarized light

Plane-polarized light - after a beam of ordinary light passes through a polarizer, the light's electric field (and the magnetic field perpendicular to it) oscillates only in one plane and this resulti

Position isomer

Position isomer - isomers that have the same carbon skeleton and functional group but differ only in the position of the functional group

Stereoisomerism

Stereoisomerism - a type of isomerism in which atoms are linked in the same way but have different spatial arrangements

Structural isomerism

Structural isomerism - a type of isomerism in which atoms are linked in different orders

Superimposable

Superimposable - the ability for an object to be placed over another object

Superposable

Superposable - all parts of any two objects coincide simply by putting one object on top of the other

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