Term originated с 1878 by Viktor Meyer (1848–97) for the study of stereoisomers (see isomer ).
optical activity and that this depends on molecular asymmetry, and Jacobus H. van't Hoff and Joseph-Achille Le Bel (1847–1930) had independently explained in 1874 how a molecule with a carbon atom bonded to four different groups has two mirror-image forms. Stereochemistry deals with stereoisomers and with {{link=asymmetric synthesis">asymmetric synthesis . John Cornforth (b. 1917) and Vladimir Prelog (1906–98) shared a 1975 Nobel Prize for work on stereochemistry and stereoisomerism of alkaloids, enzymes, antibiotics, and other natural compounds.