In chemistry, enantiomers (from the Greek ἐνάντιος, opposite, and μέρος, part or portion) are stereoisomers that are nonsuperimposable complete mirror images of each other, much as one's left and right hands are "the same" but opposite.
Enantiomers have, when present in a symmetric environment, identical chemical and physical properties except for their ability to rotate plane-polarized light by equal amounts but in opposite directions. A mixture of equal parts of an optically active isomer and its enantiomer is termed racemic and has a net rotation of plane-polarized light of zero.
Two symmetrical enantiomers often do have different chemical properties related to other substances that are also enantiomers. Since many molecules in the bodies of living beings are enantiomers themselves, there is often a marked difference in the effects of two symmetrical enantiomers on living beings, including human beings.