Standardization of Complexity
• Isomers of a molecule are assigned discrete CAS numbers: D-glucose has 50-99-7, L-glucose has 921-60-8, α-D-glucose has 26655-34-5, etc.
• Occasionally whole classes of molecules receive a single CAS number: the group of enzymes known as alcohol dehydrogenases has 9031-72-5.
• A standard mixture of otherwise-identified compounds may receive a corporate CAS number; One example is mustard oil (8007-40-7).
Read more about this topic: CAS Registry Number
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