Optical isomerism
When a species cannot be placed over on its mirror image the two forms are termed as enantiomers or optical isomers. Several instances with coordination compounds contain chelating (example bidentate) ligands.
Structures 10 and 11 depict correspondingly the delta and lambda isomers of a tris(chelate) complex, along with the bidentate ligands each represented through a simple bond framework. Optical isomerism is probable only while a species has proper symmetry elements (inversion or reflections). Structures 10 and 11 comprise the point group D3, with just C3 and C2 rotation axes.