Disable ads (and more) with a premium pass for a one time $4.99 payment
Enantiomers are defined as a pair of molecules that are nonsuperimposable mirror images of each other. This characteristic is essential in distinguishing them from diastereomers. Enantiomers possess at least one chiral center, and when a molecule has a chiral center, it can exist in two configurations that are mirror images of one another. Despite having the same molecular formula and connectivity of atoms, these enantiomers cannot be aligned to perfectly match one another, making them distinct entities with different spatial arrangements.
On the other hand, diastereomers are stereoisomers that are not related as mirror images; they are not located in a mirror-image relationship. They typically have multiple chiral centers but differ in configuration at one or more of these centers. Because of their different spatial arrangements, diastereomers often exhibit different physical properties, such as melting points and solubility, which is not the case for enantiomers as they usually have similar physical properties.
The other choices provided do not accurately capture the distinction between enantiomers and diastereomers. While it is true that enantiomers can differ in their optical activity (i.e., they rotate plane-polarized light in opposite directions), the defining feature that separates