Optical Antipodes
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Optical Antipodes
stereoisomers with identical chemical and physical properties except for direction (sign) of rotation of the light polarization plane. Structurally, molecules of optical antipodes are related to each other as an object is to its mirror image. An antipode rotating the polarization plane to the right is called dextrorotatory [(+)-antipode], and an antipode turning the polarization plane to the left is called levorotatory [(-)-antipode]. An example of an optical antipode is glyceraldehyde.
Optical antipodes frequently occur in natural substances.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.