Epimerizes

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To convert an epimer into its counterpart through a chemical reaction that alters stereochemistry at one specific carbon atom
2. To undergo a transformation that changes a specific stereocenter of a compound without affecting others
3. To facilitate a process where two sugars differ in configuration at only one carbon, resulting in distinct chemical entities

Etymology: "Epimerizes" is the third-person singular form of "epimerize," a verb meaning to flip the configuration of one stereocenter in a molecule while the rest stay the same. The verb is built from "epimer," itself a term from stereochemistry, with the common English suffix "-ize," which turns a noun into a verb meaning to make or undergo something. The chemistry comes first: "epimer" names a pair of molecules that differ at exactly one stereocenter, so a sugar and its mirror-image-at-one-carbon cousin count as epimers. Chemists then needed a verb for the change itself, and "epimerize" follows the same pattern as older words such as "isomerize."

Synonyms: inverts, isomerizes, mutarotates