stereoiso

stereoiso is a term that has appeared in a handful of specialized writings but does not have a single, widely accepted definition. The word is a portmanteau of stereo-, meaning three-dimensional or stereoscopic, and iso-, meaning equal, identical, or isotopic; as such, it is used by some authors to signal a link between stereochemical or stereoscopic concepts and notions of equivalence or isotopy.

In chemistry, stereoiso has been used informally to denote stereoisomeric species that also differ in isotopic substitution, i.e., stereoisomeric isotopologues. This nonstandard usage can be ambiguous, and most scholars prefer explicit terminology such as stereoisomer and isotopologue to avoid confusion.

In visual technology or graphics, stereoiso is sometimes encountered as a provisional label for techniques that emphasize equal treatment of left and right stereo images, such as matched exposure or illumination across a stereo pair, or for methods that visualize iso-values in stereoscopic representations. Again, these uses are not part of a formal nomenclature.

Because the term lacks a formal definition in major reference works, its interpretation is highly context-dependent. When stereoiso appears, readers should examine the surrounding text to discern whether it refers to a chemical concept, a graphics technique, or another domain.

See also: stereoisomer, isotopologue, stereoscopic imaging.