Introduction to Stereochemistry

Andrew Clark is a Professor in Chemistry and the University Academic Director responsible for all Undergraduate programmes at the University of Warwick.Russ Kitson is Associate Professor in Chemistry at the University of Warwick. Russ' research centres around organic chemistry and chemical education with a focus on inclusive practice, laboratory learning, active learning, authentic learning, game-based learning and employability.Nimesh Mistry is a Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Leeds. Nimesh's research interests are in chemistry education with a focus on laboratory education, organic chemistry education and authentic research experiences.Paul Taylor is currently Professor of Chemical Education at the University of Leeds, where he is also Pro-Dean for Student Education in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Mike Lloyd is a PhD student at Imperial College London, specialising in single-molecule chemistry for the study of neurodegenerative disease. He graduated from the University of Leeds with an MChem in Medicinal Chemistry in 2018, which included a summer internship with Dr Nimesh Mistry.Matthew Taylor is a third-year chemistry with medicinal chemistry student at the University of Warwick. His research interests lie in synthetic organic chemistry and finding intuitive and creative ways of communicating the subject.Caroline Akamune is a third year Undergraduate student in Chemistry at the University of Warwick. Following a summer research project with Dr Manuela Tosin she has developed a keen interest in synthetic organic chemistry and chemical biology.

The precise arrangement of atoms in 3-dimensional space – stereochemistry – is a fundamental, overarching concept in chemistry. It impinges on our very existence because all the molecules of life (proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, lipids) possess stereochemical features. However, students often struggle to understand stereochemistry, and find the terminology confusing. This book addresses such issues head on, and teaches the core concepts of stereochemistry in a logical and extremely clear manner. It familiarises students with the language and structural basis of stereochemistry, and, importantly, gives them confidence to draw accurate representations.The involvement of student co-authors is an added bonus since it ensures that the explanation of difficult concepts is clear, and adequately addresses topics that they find more challenging.

• Stereochemistry; Alkenes; Stereogenic Centres, Enantiomers and Diastereoisomers; Conformation of Acyclic Compounds; Conformation of cyclic compounds; Chiral Molecules without a Stereogenic Atom; Stereochemistry of inorganic molecules