A prefix meaning right or rotating toward the right, used in chemistry to describe molecules that turn polarized light clockwise.
From Latin 'dexter' (right). Used in chemistry and biochemistry as a combining form to describe optical rotation properties of molecules, with '-' often added to create compounds like 'dextro-glucose'.
When chemists discovered that some molecules twist light in one direction and others twist it the opposite way, they created the 'dextro-' and 'levo-' system—it reveals the 3D shape of invisible molecules, like using light as a molecular fingerprint.
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