CHM136H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5.9, 5.11-5.13: Ketone, Howa, Chemical Formula

• School: UTSG
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CHM136H1
• Professor: Mitch Winnik

Document Summary

Isomers are compounds with the same chemical formula but different structures. There are two fundamental types of isomers. Constitutional isomers are compounds whose atoms are connected differently: the chemical formulas remain the same. Closely related to the concept of chirality, and particularly important in biologicalchemistry, is the notion of prochirality. In addition to compounds with planar, sp2-hybridized atoms, compounds with tetrahedral, sp3-hybridized atoms can also be prochiral. An sp3-hybridized atom is said to be a prochirality center if, by changing one of its attached groups, it becomes a chirality center. The ch2oh carbon atom of ethanol, for instance, is a prochirality center because changing one of its attached h atoms converts it into a chirality center. Of the two identical atoms in an original compound, that atom whose replacement leads to an r chirality center is said to be pro-r and that atom whose replacement leads to an s chirality center is pro-s.