CHIRALITY AND STEREOGENICITY - THE IMPORTANCE OF CONFORMATIONAL CHIRALITY IN THE CLASSIFICATION OF STEREOISOMERS

As we have recently shown, the elements of chirality are not defined in the Cahn, Ingold and Prelog classification leading to imprecisions in the assignment and designation of chiral stereoisomers not involving a centre of chirality. Similarly, conformational chirality was not satisfactorily treated in the classification resulting in its underestimation. A recently published scheme of stereoisomer classification as well as many textbooks on organic chemistry, neglect or improperly treat conformational enantiomers and diastereoisomers. The scheme is corrected to include the latter group of stereoisomers.