I just took a chemistry test, and it asked which of our senses is dependent on cis/trans isomerization of an alkene. I googled it and couldn't find the answer. Does anybody here know this?

Well smell does show stereochemical preference, but since they say specifically an alkene, I would guess they're talking about vision since vision is dependent on beta-carotene which is an alkene with 11 double bonds all of which are trans(or more accurately E but trans can also be used to describe it) and if any of the bonds are cis(again more accurately Z) then it doesn't affect vision.

thanks

yeh i would go with smell as well i did chemistry last semester (though i forgotten a lot of it) and i distinctly remember he said that one isomer of some substance had a minty smell while the other had some other smell (i think it was fish)

anyway, its got something to do with the olfactory receptors being able to accommodate certain structures of an isomer.

though if i recall correctly, cis/trans isomers also affect the rotation direction of radiation thats shone through it (or something like that), though the magnitude of the direction is the same