orgcherm

• Stereochemistry


  The study of the relative arrangement of atoms or groups in a molecule in three-dimensional space
• Stereochemical isomers


  Molecules which have the same chemical formula and bond connectivity but different arrangement in three-dimensional space
• Stereochemistry constitutes an intrinsically interesting research field in its own right
• Many chemists find this area of study fascinating due simply to the aesthetic beauty associated with chemical structures, and the intriguing ability to combine the fields of geometry, topology, and chemistry in the study of three-dimensional shapes
• Nature is inherently chiral because the building blocks of life (-amino acids, nucleotides, and sugars) are chiral and appear in nature in enantiomerically pure forms
• Any substances created by humankind to interact with or modify nature are interacting with a chiral environment
• This is an important issue for bioorganic chemists, and a practical issue for pharmaceutical chemists
• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now requires that drugs be produced in enantiomerically pure forms, or that rigorous tests be performed to ensure that both enantiomers are safe
• Enantiomers


  Non-superimposable mirror images (stereoisomers)
• Chiral molecules


  Molecules that are not superimposable with mirror image (handedness)
• Achiral molecules


  Molecules that are superimposable with mirror image (have some symmetry element)
• Chiral Centers


  Tetrahedral C sp3 bonded to four different groups (stereocenter)
• Configurational Isomers


  Stereoisomers that differ in their configuration of a chiral center
• Optical Activity


  Ability of a chiral molecule to rotate the plane polarized light
• Diastereomers


  Either member of pair of substances that differ with respect of their molecules
• Meso Compounds


  Achiral compounds that has multiple chiral centers