Bromochlorofluoroiodomethane is a hypothetical

haloalkane The haloalkanes (also known as halogenoalkanes or alkyl halides) are alkanes containing one or more halogen substituents of hydrogen atom. They are a subset of the general class of halocarbons, although the distinction is not often made. Haloalka ...

with all four stable

halogen The halogens () are a group in the periodic table consisting of six chemically related elements: fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), and the radioactive elements astatine (At) and tennessine (Ts), though some authors would ...

substituents present in it.

Overview

This compound can be seen as a

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...

molecule, whose four

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

atoms are each replaced with a different

atom. As the mirror images of this molecule are not superimposable, the molecule has two

enantiomer In chemistry, an enantiomer (Help:IPA/English, /ɪˈnænti.əmər, ɛ-, -oʊ-/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''ih-NAN-tee-ə-mər''), also known as an optical isomer, antipode, or optical antipode, is one of a pair of molecular entities whi ...

s. As one of the simplest such molecules, it is often cited as the prototypical

chiral Chirality () is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek language, Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is dist ...

compound.''Comprehensive Organic Functional Group Transformations: Carbon with Three or Four Attached Heteroatoms'', Volume 6, Thomas L. Gilchrist (Editor), However, since there is no synthetic route known to produce bromochlorofluoroiodomethane, the related simple chiral compound

bromochlorofluoromethane Bromochlorofluoromethane or fluorochlorobromomethane, is a chemical compound and trihalomethane derivative with the chemical formula . As one of the simplest possible stable chiral compounds, it is useful for fundamental research into this area of ...

is used instead when such a compound is required for research.

References

{{Halomethanes Halomethanes Hypothetical chemical compounds Chirality