enantiomerische

Enantiomerische refers to properties or phenomena related to enantiomers in chemistry and related fields. Enantiomers are a pair of stereoisomers that are non-superimposable mirror images of each other, typically arising from molecular chirality at one or more stereogenic elements.

In most achiral environments, enantiomers exhibit almost identical physical properties such as melting point, boiling point, and solubility. They differ in their interaction with plane-polarized light, rotating it in opposite directions, and in how they interact with other chiral environments, such as biological systems. A mixture containing equal amounts of both enantiomers, a racemate, is optically inactive.

The term enantiomerische is commonly encountered in expressions like enantiomeric excess, enantiomeric purity, and enantiomeric ratio. Enantiomeric excess (ee) quantifies the predominance of one enantiomer over the other in a mixture and is calculated as the absolute difference between the amounts of the two enantiomers, divided by the total amount, multiplied by 100 percent.

Enantiomerisch enriched products are produced by asymmetric synthesis using chiral catalysts or reagents, or by chiral resolution methods that separate enantiomers. Common techniques include forming diastereomeric salts for separation or employing chiral chromatography.

The concept is of practical importance in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and materials science, since enantiomers can differ in biological activity, metabolism, and toxicity. For example, lactic acid exists as two enantiomers, L- and D-lactic acid, which have distinct properties and applications.