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Stereochemical Specification

R-7.0 Introduction

This section is concerned only with the main principles for specification of stereochemistry in organic compounds [for a more detailed description, see Section E of the IUPAC Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry; see also Pure Appl. Chem., 45, 11-30 (1976)]. The spatial structure of an organic compound is systematically indicated by one or more affixes added to a name that does not itself prescribe stereochemical configuration; such affixes are generally called stereodescriptors and do not change the name or the numbering of a compound established by the principles of nomenclature described in other sections of these recommendations. Thus, stereoisomers, such as enantiomers and cis/trans isomers, have names that differ only in the stereodescriptors used. By contrast, certain trivial names imply their own stereochemical configuration, for example, fumaric acid and cholesterol.

See Also:
Convention
R-7.2 Chiral Compounds - Specification of Absolute Configuration
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This HTML reproduction is as close as possible to the published version [see IUPAC, Commission on Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry. A Guide to IUPAC Nomenclature of Organic Compounds (Recommendations 1993), 1993, Blackwell Scientific publications, Copyright 1993 IUPAC]. If you need to cite these rules please quote this reference as their source.

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