Rigid and nonrigid achirality
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: Rigid and nonrigid achirality
zbMATH Open document ID: 0594.57006
author: Erica Flapan
published in: Pacific Journal of Mathematics
publication date: 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
review text: In order to completely characterize a molecule it is useful to understand the symmetries of its molecular bond graph in 3-space. For many purposes the most important type of symmetry that a molecule can exhibit is mirror image symmetry. However, the question of whether a molecular graph is equivalent to its mirror image has different interpretations depending on what assumptions are made about the rigidity of the molecular structure. If there is a deformation of 3-space taking a molecular bond graph to its mirror image then the molecule is said to be topologically achiral, if a molecular graph can be embedded in 3-space in such a way that it can be rotated to its mirror image, then the molecule is said to be rigidly achiral. We use knot theory in \({\mathbb{R}}^ 3\) to produce hypothetical knotted molecular graphs which are topologically achiral but not rigidly achiral. This answers a question which was originally raised by the chemist D. Walba.
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 57M25
zbMATH DE Number: 3956000
zbMATH Keywords: mirror image symmetry
zbMATH Keywords: rigidity of the molecular structure
zbMATH Keywords: rididly achiral
zbMATH Keywords: knot
zbMATH Keywords: topologically achiral
MaRDI profile type: Publication
full work available at URL: pjm.1987.129.57
OpenAlex ID: W2021103350
DOI: 10.2140/PJM.1987.129.57
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description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3956000