Q.Describe optical isomerism with suitable example.
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Step 1. Optical isomers are compounds sharing identical physical and chemical properties but differing only in the direction they rotate the plane of plane-polarised light -- the phenomenon is optical isomerism, and a compound capable of it (glucose is the standard example) is optically active.
Step 2. An isomer rotating the plane clockwise (right) is dextrorotatory ('d' or +); one rotating it anticlockwise (left) is laevorotatory ('l' or -).
Step 3. Enantiomerism is the specific case where two such isomeric forms rotate the plane by an equal angle in opposite directions -- such a pair are enantiomers, and they are always non-superimposable mirror images of one another.
Step 4. The structural cause is an asymmetric (chiral) carbon: a carbon whose four bonds are satisfied by four genuinely DIFFERENT substituents (marked C*). A molecule containing such a carbon, and not superimposable on its own mirror image, is a chiral molecule, and the property is chirality. …
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