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Enantiomers are pairs of compounds with exactly the same connectivity but opposite three-dimensional shapes. Enantiomers are not the same as each other; one enantiomer cannot be superimposed on the other.
Are they constitutional isomers (same formula, different connectivity), stereoisomers (same connectivity, different arrangement), enantiomers (stereoisomers that are non-superimposable mirror images) or diastereomers (stereoisomers that are NOT non-superimposable mirror images. Or are they the same? : – ) Answer to all these questions… and more!
Enantiomers are stereoisomers that are non-superimposable mirror images. Diastereomers are stereoisomers that are not non-superimposable mirror images. Also, in organic chemistry, two molecules that are superimposable upon each other are considered to be identical.
Enantiomers are a pair of molecules that exist in two forms that are mirror images of one another but cannot be superimposed one upon the other. Enantiomers are in every other respect chemically identical.
To name the enantiomers of a compound unambiguously, their names must include the "handedness" of the molecule. The method for this is formally known as R/S nomenclature.
Enantiomers are types of stereoisomers since all the atoms are connected the same but they have a different 3D orientation. Here is a little scheme as a reminder about constitutional isomers and stereoisomers. It also mentions the diastereomers, but you can ignore those for now if you have not covered them in your class:
Enantiomers, Diastereomers, Constitutional isomers, Same or no relationship? A question that covers so much for you to learn, yet a very important one as it lays the basis of understanding organic chemistry. Let’s put this chart flow and start from the concept of isomerism in general:
Enantiomers and diastereomers are the only two stereochemical relationships that you can have between any two molecules. The stereoisomers are any two molecules that fulfill the following two requirements: Both molecules must have the same atom connectivity. So, what’s the difference then?
Enantiomers are molecules that have the same molecular formula and connectivity of atoms but differ in their spatial arrangement. More precisely, enantiomers are mirror-image isomers of each other, just like our left and right hands are mirror images of one another.
Some Chiral Organic Molecules. There are a number of important biomolecules that could occur as enantiomers, including amino acids and sugars. In most cases, only one enantiomer occurs (although some fungi, for example, are able to produce mirror-image forms of these compounds).