What type of isomers are mirror images of each other?

Enantiomers are a specific type of stereoisomer that are non-superimposable mirror images of each other. This means that if you were to superimpose one enantiomer over the other, they would not align perfectly, much like your left and right hands. Enantiomers typically arise in situations involving chiral molecules, which are molecules that have four different substituents attached to a central carbon atom, creating two distinct forms that can interact differently with other chiral substances, such as biological molecules.

While isomers refers to molecules that have the same molecular formula but different structures or arrangements of atoms, and stereoisomers includes all isomers that have the same connectivity but different spatial arrangements, enantiomers specifically focus on the mirror-image relationship. Conformers, on the other hand, are related to different spatial arrangements of a molecule that result from rotations around single bonds and are not necessarily mirror images. This particular distinction makes enantiomers unique in the vast field of organic chemistry, especially concerning their implications in pharmacology and biochemistry.