The absolute configuration of stereoisomers must be specified in a complete nomenclature. Groups are assigned priorities according to the atomic number of the atoms closest to the stereocenter. Each enantiomer interacts differently with the chiral receptor proteins that populate the olfactory cells in nasal tissue. Since most physical tests such as melting point, boiling point, refractive index, etc., are the same when performed in a mirror-image world physical properties of enantiomers are identical. Light can be polarized by a filter so that the oscillating electric and magnetic field vectors are fixed in one plane in space.
Sunlight is polarized by a body of water.
Polarizing sunglasses work because the lens in a polarizing filter that blocks the polarization angle of the light reflecting off the water. A solution of an enantiomer will rotate the plane of polarized light. Diastereomers Stereoisomers that are not mirror images of each other but differ in space nonetheless are called diastereomers. An example is cis-trans isomers. . In sharp contrast to enantiomers, diastereomers have different physical properties.