chirality

chirality

English

WOTD – 18 September 2012

These two amino acids are mirror images of each other but they are otherwise identical, like left and right hand; hence, they are chiral.

Etymology

From chiral +‎ -ity = chir- +‎ -ality.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kīrăl'ĭtē, IPA^(key): /kaɪˈɹælɪti/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ælɪti

Noun

chirality (countable and uncountable, plural chiralities)

1. The phenomenon, in chemistry, physics and mathematics, in which objects are mirror images of each other, but are otherwise identical; handedness

Synonyms

• handedness

Derived terms

• axial chirality

Related terms

• achiral
• achirality
• chiral

Translations

handedness in chemistry, physic and mathematics

Armenian: քիրալություն (kʿiralutʿyun) Catalan: quiralitat f Czech: chiralita f Dutch: chiraliteit f Finnish: kiraalisuus (fi), kätisyys French: chiralité (fr) f German: Chiralität f Hungarian: kiralitás Icelandic: hendni f Indonesian: kekiralan, kiralitas Italian: chiralità (it) f Japanese: カイラリティー, キラリティー Kazakh: хиралдық (xiraldyq) Korean: 카이랄성 (kairalseong) Macedonian: хиралност f (hiralnost) Malay: kekiralan Norwegian: Bokmål: kiralitet m Nynorsk: kiralitet m Polish: chiralność f Portuguese: quiralidade Russian: хира́льность (ru) f (xirálʹnostʹ), кира́льность (ru) f (királʹnostʹ) Spanish: quiralidad (es) f Swedish: kiralitet c Tamil: சமச்சீரின்மை (camaccīriṉmai) Turkish: aynallık, kirallik

See also

• enantiomer