Mirror Images

Molecules with a left and a right hand

An interactive lesson with 5 steps, about 5 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• Chiral: not superimposable on its mirror image. The two forms are enantiomers.
• A mirror plane makes a molecule achiral.

Steps

1. Your two hands
2. A molecule that matches
3. Now one that won’t
4. The test
5. Chiral or not?