Ciro Santilli Can we make any ab initio predictions about it all?
A 2016 paper: aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.4948309
Isomers were quite confusing for early chemists, before atomic theory was widely accepted, and people where thinking mostly in terms of proportions of equations, related: Section "Isomers suggest that atoms exist (1874)".
Exist because double bonds don't rotate freely. Have different properties of course, unlike enantiomer.
Bibliography:
Mirror images.
Key exmaple: d and L amino acids. Enantiomers have identical physico-chemical properties. But their biological roles can be very different, because an enzyme might only be able to act on one of them.
TODO definition. Appears to be isomers
Example:
- the three most table polymorphs of calcium carbonate polymorphs are:
Molecules that are the same if you just look at "what atom is linked to what atom", they are only different if you consider the relative spacial positions of atoms.