Title: desymmetrization
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - desymmetrization
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.D01623
Status: current

Definition
The modification of an object which results in the loss of one or more symmetry elements, such as those which preclude chirality (mirror plane, centre of inversion, rotation-reflection axis), as in the conversion of a prochiral molecular entity into a chiral one.

Related Terms
- chiral: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01057
- chirality: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01058
- inversion: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/I03146
- prochiral: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04859

Source
- PAC, 1996, 68, 2193. 'Basic terminology of stereochemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1996)' on page 2205 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199668122193)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/D01623/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/D01623/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/D01623/xml

Citation: Citation: 'desymmetrization' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.D01623
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
Collection: If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .
Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-07-24T13:57:20+00:00