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):

  (file)

• 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
• biochirality
• cryptochirality
• heterochirality
• pseudochirality

 

Related terms

• achiral
• achirality
• chiral

Translations

handedness in chemistry, physic and mathematics

• Armenian: քիրալություն (kʻiralutʻyun)
• Catalan: quiralitat f
• Czech: chiralita f
• Dutch: chiraliteit f
• Finnish: kiraalisuus (fi), kätisyys (fi)
• French: chiralité (fr) f
• German: Chiralität f
• Greek: χειρομορφία (el) f (cheiromorfía)
• 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