Question

What is mean by chirality & chiral Carbon? 11th chemistry.

Answer 1

An asymmetric carbon atom (chiral carbon) is a carbon atom that is attached to four different types of atoms or groups of atoms.

Answer 2

Chirality (pronounced kie-RAL-it-tee) is the property of handedness. If you attempt to superimpose your right hand on top of your left, the two do not match up in the sense that your right hand's thumb overlays your left hand's pinky finger. Your two hands cannot be superimposed identically, despite the fact that your fingers of each hand are connected in the same way. Any object can have this property, including molecules.

An object that is chiral is an object that can not be superimposed on its mirror image. Chiral objects don't have a plane of symmetry. An achiral object has a plane of symmetry or a rotation-reflection axis, i.e. reflection gives a rotated version.

Optical isomers or enantiomers are stereoisomers which exhibit chirality. Optical isomerism is of interest because of its application in inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, pharmacology and biochemistry.