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Chiral intermediate is an atom having totally different groups around it. Carbon atom for example surrouned by 4 different groups.

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Laurence Aufderhar

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1y ago
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13y ago

Chirality is an interesting aspect of chemistry that adequately explains say, the enantiomers of alanine or the enantiomers of 2-aminopentane. Basically, chirality (occurs in optical isomers) means that two molecules or atoms cannot be superimposed on each other. They're mirror images of each other, like your hands. Your left hand and your right hand are, in content, the same, but they can't be superimposed on each other. No matter which way you turn them - left, right, up, down, - you can never get one to look exactly like the other. Thus, your hands are perfect examples of chirality. Other examples of chirality in daily life would be shoes, and gloves.

Think of a ball placed in front of a mirror. If you were to take a picture of both, you would see, one is indistinguishable from another and thus can be superimposed on each other. Clearly, the ball in this case would not be chiral.

The word "enantiomers" describes a pair of chiral molecules, so in the example above, you hands can be considered "enantiomers"

Chirality occurs in stereoisomers, more specifically, in optical isomers.

~ nkindianhobo ~

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10y ago

Chirality is the property of being different from one's mirror image. Humans, for example, are chiral. An ordinary human has a liver on the right side; a mirror image has a liver on the left side. Thus humans are not equivalent to their mirror image; they have chirality. The same applies to some molecules.

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Q: What does chirality term mean in chemistry?
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