Having the property of
chirality. As applied to a molecule the term has been used differently by different workers.
Some apply it exclusively to the whole molecule, whereas others apply it to parts
of a molecule. For example, according to the latter view, a
meso-compound is considered to be composed of two chiral parts of opposite
chirality sense; this usage is to be discouraged.
In its application to an assembly of molecules, some restrict the term to an assembly
in which all of the molecules have the same
chirality sense, which is better called
enantiopure. Others extend it to a
racemic assembly, which is better just called a
racemate. Use of the term to describe molecular assemblies should be avoided.
Source:
PAC, 1996, 68, 2193
(Basic terminology of stereochemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1996))
on page 2202
Cite as:
IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by
A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997).
XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic,
J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8.
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.
