Stereochemistry: Difference between revisions

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== Chirality ==

Chiral molecules are like your hands. There are two versions, left and right, and they are mirror images (or enantiomers). The initial scenes shows how four different substituents on a tetrahedral center leads to two possible configurations. It is impossible to superimpose the two molecules without breaking some of the bonds (i.e. swapping two of the substituents.

Chiral molecules are like your hands. There are two versions, left and right, and they are mirror images (or enantiomers). The initial scenes shows how four different substituents on a tetrahedral center leads to two possible configurations. It is impossible to superimpose the two molecules without breaking some of the bonds (i.e. swapping two of the substituents).

If you make a fist with your right hand and hold out your left hand flat, they are still considered mirror images because a hand is still a hand, even when you make a fist. Similarly, you sometimes have to rotate around some single bonds to have a pair of more complex enantiomers actually look like mirror images.

== Explore it yourself ==

You can rotate the left and the right molecule by dragging them. Try rotating the right molecule so that is looks exactly the same as the left molecule. Or imagine a mirror between the two molecules, and rotate them that the same atoms are on top and on the bottom, but left and right is reversed.

<jmol>

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 == Chirality ==
-Chiral molecules are like your hands. There are two versions, left and right, and they are mirror images (or enantiomers). The initial scenes shows how four different substituents on a tetrahedral center leads to two possible configurations. It is impossible to superimpose the two molecules without breaking some of the bonds (i.e. swapping two of the substituents.
+Chiral molecules are like your hands. There are two versions, left and right, and they are mirror images (or enantiomers). The initial scenes shows how four different substituents on a tetrahedral center leads to two possible configurations. It is impossible to superimpose the two molecules without breaking some of the bonds (i.e. swapping two of the substituents).
 If you make a fist with your right hand and hold out your left hand flat, they are still considered mirror images because a hand is still a hand, even when you make a fist. Similarly, you sometimes have to rotate around some single bonds to have a pair of more complex enantiomers actually look like mirror images.
 <table><tr><td><applet load='' name='A' size='300' frame='true' scene='82/824489/Rconfig/4'/></td><td><applet load='' name='B' size='300' frame='true' scene='82/824489/Sconfig/4'/></td></tr></table>
+== Explore it yourself ==
+You can rotate the left and the right molecule by dragging them. Try rotating the right molecule so that is looks exactly the same as the left molecule. Or imagine a mirror between the two molecules, and rotate them that the same atoms are on top and on the bottom, but left and right is reversed.
 <jmol>