Fair! I’ve only taken organic chemistry so far, so that’s what I remembered
Comment on Enantiomers
protist@mander.xyz 3 months agoThese terms can describe any molecule, btw, doesn’t have to contain carbon
FoxyFerengi@startrek.website 3 months ago
deranger@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
Not any molecule, it’s gotta be able to have stereoisomers in the first place. There’s no R or S water for example.
protist@mander.xyz 3 months ago
Well yes, it does have to have chirality, I just meant it doesn’t have to contain any specific elements.
I’m definitely no expert, but isn’t the D/L notation used in all of chemistry? Sometimes it’s written Δ/Λ, but that’s the same thing. Doesn’t it just describe a molecule’s geometry in a different way from R/S?
deranger@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
D/L refers to the entire molecule and how it polarizes light whereas R/S looks at every chiral center and has a priority system to assign. I’ve only really seen D/L in biochemistry, regular chemistry is using R/S notation. It’s much more specific and isn’t related to polarization of light.