dextrorotary
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Rotating to the right: In chemistry and physics, describes a substance (especially an optically active compound) that rotates the plane of polarized light to the right (clockwise) when viewed towards the light source.
Usage
- The term is used almost exclusively in scientific contexts, particularly in optics, chemistry, and biochemistry, to describe the direction of optical rotation.
- It is synonymous with "dextrorotatory" and "right-handed" in this specific context. The opposite property is "levorotary" or "levorotatory" (rotating to the left).
Examples
- Adjective:
- Dextrorotary sugars, like D-glucose, are commonly found in nature.
- The chemist identified the compound as dextrorotary based on its interaction with polarized light.
- A dextrorotary substance will show a positive (+) specific rotation value.
Advanced Usage
- Specific Rotation: The precise measurement of a compound's optical activity. A compound has a positive specific rotation ([α] > 0).
- Chirality: The property is a physical manifestation of molecular chirality (handedness), but the direction of rotation cannot be predicted from the molecular structure alone; it must be measured experimentally.
Variants and Related Words
- Dextrorotatory (adj): A full synonym for .
- Dextro- (prefix): A prefix meaning "to the right," used in terms like (the act of rotating to the right) and (heart on the right side of the body).
- D- (prefix): In sugar and amino acid nomenclature, the capital "D" (for ) often refers to the absolute configuration of the molecule, which is related to, but not always the same as, its optical activity. For example, D-glucose is , but D-fructose is .
Synonyms
- Dextrorotatory: (adj) Rotating to the right.
- Right-handed: (adj) In the context of optical activity, synonymous with .
Antonyms
- Levorotary / Levorotatory: (adj) Rotating to the left.
- Left-handed: (adj) In the context of optical activity, the opposite of .
Adjective
- rotating to the right