What are mirror images of chiral compounds referred to as?

Mirror images of chiral compounds are referred to as enantiomers. Chiral compounds have non-superimposable mirror images, meaning that if you were to place one image over the other, they would not align perfectly. Each of these non-superimposable forms is called an enantiomer due to their specific three-dimensional arrangement of atoms that leads to different optical activities. Enantiomers are critical in biochemistry because they can have markedly different biological activities, with one enantiomer often being more pharmacologically active than the other.

In contrast, isomers refer to compounds that have the same molecular formula but different structural arrangements, while stereoisomers are isomers that differ in the spatial arrangement of atoms. Neutral compounds do not relate specifically to the concept of chirality. Thus, enantiomers specifically denote the relationship between chiral molecules and their mirror images.