Cahn-Ingold-Prelog priority rules
Reglas de prioridad Cahn-Ingold-Prelog
- Date
- 1951-1966 · confidence medium
- Place
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Credited to
- Robert S. Cahn, Christopher Ingold and Vladimir Prelog (born in Sarajevo)
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
A system for naming the three-dimensional configuration of molecules with the R and S descriptors. It is the standard nomenclature of stereochemistry.
Cahn and Ingold proposed the rules in 1951 and 1956; Prelog completed them (1966). Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1975 for Prelog for the stereochemistry of organic molecules. Prelog was born in Sarajevo and worked in Zurich.
What it led to
- unambiguous nomenclature of enantiomers
- description of chiral drugs