Which type of molecules are enantiomers?

Enantiomers are a specific type of stereoisomer that are characterized by their relationship to each other as non-superimposable mirror images. This means that if you were to hold one enantiomer in one hand, you would need to use the opposite hand to hold the other enantiomer so that their configurations match up; however, they cannot be aligned perfectly on top of each other due to their spatial arrangement of atoms.

This property is crucial in many biochemical contexts, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, where the different configurations of enantiomers can lead to drastically different biological activities. For example, one enantiomer of a drug may be therapeutically active, while its mirror image may be inactive or even harmful.

The other options describe aspects that are not characteristic of enantiomers. Molecules with the same physical properties might include isomers that are not enantiomers, but enantiomers can exhibit different physical properties such as optical activity. Molecules that have different reactivity may not necessarily be enantiomers; they could be diastereomers or different compounds altogether. Lastly, stating that the molecules share the same bonding structure is not sufficient to define enantiomers, as their bonding structure can be identical while their spatial arrangement differs,