Chirality

Question 1

what is optical isomerism?

Answer 1

• a type of stereoisomerism
• found in molecules that have a chiral centre

Question 2

what are chiral centres?

Answer 2

a carbon atom that is attached to 4 different atoms or groups of atoms

Question 3

what are optical isomers?

Answer 3

• stereoisomers which are non-super imposable mirror images of each other about chiral centre

Question 4

how can we work out the number of isomers using the chiral carbon?

Answer 4

number of isomers = 2 to the power of n
n = chiral carbons

Question 5

what are the properties of optical isomers?

Answer 5

• optical isomer rotate plane-polarised light in opposite directions
• a 50:50 mixture of each optical isomer = racemic mixture
• racemic mixtures have no effect on plane polarised light, the two opposite rotations cancel each other out