chirality

English

WOTD – 18 September 2012    

Wikipedia

These two amino acids are mirror images of each other but they are not identical, like left and right hand; hence, they are chiral.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χείρ (kheir, “hand”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kaɪˈrælɪtiː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ælɪti

Noun

chirality (uncountable)

1. The phenomenon, in chemistry, physics and mathematics, in which objects are mirror images of each other, but are not identical.

Synonyms

• handedness

Related terms

• achiral
• achirality
• chiral

Translations

handedness in chemistry, physic and mathematics

• Catalan: quiralitat (ca) f
• Czech: chiralita (cs) f
• Dutch: chiraliteit (nl) f
• Finnish: kiraalisuus (fi), kätisyys (fi)
• French: chiralité (fr) f
• German: Chiralität (de) f
• Hungarian: kiralitás (hu)
• Icelandic: hendni (is) f

• Italian: chiralità (it) f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kiralitet (nb) m

  Nynorsk: kiralitet (nn) m

• Polish: chiralność (pl) f
• Spanish: quiralidad (es) f
• Tamil: சமச்சீரின்மை (ta)
• Turkish: aynallık (tr), kirallik (tr)

See also

• enantiomer