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Absolute structure

From Online Dictionary of Crystallography

Revision as of 15:09, 14 February 2006 by HowardFlack (talk | contribs)

Definition

The spatial arrangement of the atoms of a physically identified non-centrosymmetric crystal and its description by way of unit-cell dimensions, space group, and representative coordinates of all atoms.

Background

The above definition of absolute structure has been designed with the intent to show its similarities and differences with that of the IUPAC definition of absolute configuration:
The spatial arrangement of the atoms of a chiral molecular entity (or group) and its stereochemical description

               absolute structure        absolute configuration

object crystal molecule symmetry non-centrosymmetric chiral


Related chemical terms

The IUPAC Basic Terminology of Stereochemistry contains definitions of related chemical terms of use to the crystallographer, viz: absolute configuration, chiral, chirality, chirality sense, enantiomer, enantiomerically pure, enantiomorph, racemate, racemic, racemic conglomerate and relative configuration.