| chirality | <chemistry> The chemical version of left-handed and right-handed. While some molecules have the same atoms tied up in the same way, they are not physically the same because of their orientation. Such a chemical is called a chiral compound, and the two (or more) forms are called enantiomers (or optical isomers) of each other. Nearly all of the molecules that make up living systems are chiral. (05 Jan 1998) |
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