Drawing a Molecules Mirror Image

Drawing the mirror image of a molecule is an important skill in organic chemistry.  We can use this technique to determine if a molecule is chiral or not.

• A molecule and it mirror image are the same distance from the mirror.  The distance of an atom to the mirror is the same distance as the reflected atom to the mirror.
• When the mirror is perpendicular to the page, the wedges an dashes bonds are the same in the original and relected image.
• Since A is chiral, B is its enantiomer.

To prove that the original molecule is chiral, we need to check to see if the refelcted molecule is superimposable on the original molecule.  To do this you imagine taking pulling the structure out of the mirror and rotate it 180^o  and then see if all the atoms occupy the same positions.  In this case A nd B are not superimposable and there fore A is not the same as B.  Therefore A is chiral (as is B) and they are enantiomers of one another.