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Diastereomers are distinct molecular configurations that are a broader category. [3] They usually differ in physical characteristics as well as chemical properties. If two molecules with more than one chiral centre differ in one or more (but not all) centres, they are diastereomers. All stereoisomers that are not enantiomers are diastereomers.
Enantiomers of a compound with more than one stereocenter are also diastereomers of the other stereoisomers of that compound that are not their mirror image (that is, excluding the opposing enantiomer). Diastereomers have different physical properties (unlike most aspects of enantiomers) and often different chemical reactivity.
A mixture of equal amounts of each enantiomer, a racemic mixture or a racemate, does not rotate light. [7] [8] [9] Stereoisomers include both enantiomers and diastereomers. Diastereomers, like enantiomers, share the same molecular formula and are also nonsuperposable onto each other; however, they are not mirror images of each other. [10]
One way to separate enantiomers is to chemically convert them into species that can be separated: diastereomers. Diastereomers, unlike enantiomers, have entirely different physical properties—boiling points, melting points, NMR shifts, solubilities—and they can be separated by conventional means such as chromatography or recrystallization.
A configurational stereoisomer is a stereoisomer of a reference molecule that has the opposite configuration at a stereocenter (e.g., R- vs S-or E- vs Z-). This means that configurational isomers can be interconverted only by breaking covalent bonds to the stereocenter, for example, by inverting the configurations of some or all of the ...
The two enantiomers can be distinguished, for example, by the right-hand rule. This type of isomerism is called axial isomerism. Enantiomers behave identically in chemical reactions, except when reacted with chiral compounds or in the presence of chiral catalysts, such as most enzymes. For this latter reason, the two enantiomers of most chiral ...
More generally, for any pair of enantiomers, all of the descriptors are opposite: (R,R) and (S,S) are enantiomers, as are (R,S) and (S,R). Diastereomers have at least one descriptor in common; for example (R,S) and (R,R) are diastereomers, as are (S,R) and (S,S). This holds true also for compounds having more than two stereocenters: if two ...
An example of modest stereoselectivity is the dehydrohalogenation of 2-iodobutane which yields 60% trans-2-butene and 20% cis-2-butene. [5] Since alkene geometric isomers are also classified as diastereomers, this reaction would also be called diastereoselective.