Bromochlorofluoroiodomethane is a hypothetical

haloalkane The haloalkanes (also known as halogenoalkanes or alkyl halides) are alkanes containing one or more halogen substituents. They are a subset of the general class of halocarbons, although the distinction is not often made. Haloalkanes are widely us ...

with all four stable

halogen The halogens () are a group in the periodic table consisting of five or six chemically related elements: fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), astatine (At), and tennessine (Ts). In the modern IUPAC nomenclature, this group is ...

substituents present in it. This compound can be seen as a methane molecule, whose four hydrogen atoms are each replaced with a different

atom. As the mirror images of this molecule are not superimposable, the molecule has two

enantiomer In chemistry, an enantiomer ( /ɪˈnænti.əmər, ɛ-, -oʊ-/ ''ih-NAN-tee-ə-mər''; from Ancient Greek ἐνάντιος ''(enántios)'' 'opposite', and μέρος ''(méros)'' 'part') – also called optical isomer, antipode, or optical ant ...

s. As one of the simplest such molecules, it is often cited as the prototypical chiral compound.''Comprehensive Organic Functional Group Transformations: Carbon with Three or Four Attached Heteroatoms'', Volume 6, Thomas L. Gilchrist (Editor), However, since there is no synthetic route known to produce bromochlorofluoroiodomethane, the related simple chiral compound

bromochlorofluoromethane Bromochlorofluoromethane or fluorochlorobromomethane, is a chemical compound and trihalomethane derivative with the chemical formula C H Br Cl F. As one of the simplest possible stable chiral compounds, it is useful for fundamental research into t ...

is used instead when such a compound is required for research.

References

Halomethanes Hypothetical chemical compounds Chirality {{theoretical-chem-stub