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Which one of the following characteristics is possessed by enantiomers?
Explanation
Enantiomers are stereoisomers that are non-superimposable mirror images of each other. They possess identical physical properties in achiral environments, such as melting points, boiling points, densities, and refractive indices. They also have the same solubility in achiral solvents.
The primary physical difference between a pair of enantiomers is their optical activity. While they rotate plane-polarized light by the same magnitude, they do so in opposite directions: one is dextrorotatory (+) and the other is levorotatory (-). Therefore, they have different optical rotations. They also react differently with other chiral molecules, which is critical in biological systems (e.g., enzyme-substrate interactions).