Illustrated Glossary of Organic Chemistry

Wavy line (squiggly line): A symbol (shown below) which means (1) "molecular structure beyond this point unspecified or unimportant", or (2) a mixture of isomers at this point.


The wavy line (squiggly line) symbol.


In this example, the molecular structure to the left of the methyl group is unspecified or unimportant.


 = mixture containing
+
In this case the wavy line indicates a mixture of α and β stereoisomers at D-glucopyranose's anomeric carbon.