Introduction to Molecular Chirality

In this chapter, the concept of chirality is described from a general perspective across various areas of science ranging from mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. In particular, the emphasis is placed on rigid body chirality, isomerism of chiral molecular entities including their chemical nomenclature, different structural sources of molecular chirality, and methods giving visual proofs of chirality at the molecular level such as atomic force microscopy and Coulomb explosion imaging. The direct and indirect methods of chirality determination are compared and contrasted, and the rationale behind the need to introduce a branch of NMR spectroscopy capable of directly observing the chirality is provided.