Enantiomers
from threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works to science_memes@mander.xyz on 09 Jun 23:46
https://sh.itjust.works/post/39836009

#science_memes

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JoShmoe@ani.social on 10 Jun 00:43 next collapse

I’m not smart enough to know this.

FoxyFerengi@startrek.website on 10 Jun 01:05 next collapse

Some molecules have a rotation that is centered on a chiral carbon atom and is named by the way the other atoms of the molecule rotate. There are some rules to it, but L is levorotatory and means it rotates to the left or counter-clockwise. D is dextrorotatory and spins to the right, or clockwise.

Edit: spelling errors lol

protist@mander.xyz on 10 Jun 01:21 collapse

These terms can describe any molecule, btw, doesn’t have to contain carbon

FoxyFerengi@startrek.website on 10 Jun 01:25 next collapse

Fair! I’ve only taken organic chemistry so far, so that’s what I remembered

deranger@sh.itjust.works on 10 Jun 01:44 collapse

Not any molecule, it’s gotta be able to have stereoisomers in the first place. There’s no R or S water for example. D/L notation is for biology.

protist@mander.xyz on 10 Jun 03:23 collapse

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 on 10 Jun 12:41 collapse

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. D/L is the older less precise notation. R/S is much more specific and isn’t related to polarization of light.

ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca on 10 Jun 01:08 collapse

It’s the title of the post: Enantiomer an identical chemical structure but mirrored. Think of how your hands are left and right. They’re identical in their structure, but are mirrored. Molecules can have the same thing and were denoted by L and D (but now use + and -)

blackbrook@mander.xyz on 10 Jun 01:08 next collapse

Chirality, Motherfucker! Do you have it?

redsand@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 10 Jun 01:57 collapse

Say racemic. Say racemic again motherfucker!

Deconceptualist@lemm.ee on 10 Jun 02:05 next collapse

Ooh, do Harry S. Truman vs Harry R. Truman next!

threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works on 10 Jun 06:07 collapse

Done.

Deconceptualist@lemm.ee on 10 Jun 12:43 collapse

<3

lemmy12369@midwest.social on 10 Jun 02:15 next collapse

Y not Samuel R Jackson¿

threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works on 10 Jun 05:56 next collapse

Because the prefixes for optical rotation are dextro and levo :)

stebo02@sopuli.xyz on 10 Jun 06:01 collapse

because the meme was made by a chemist and not a physicist

211@sopuli.xyz on 10 Jun 08:49 collapse

TIL chemists clearly got confused by D(ex)/S(in) and R(ight)/L(eft).