What is optical isomerism? What is optical activity?
Ulex says … Optical isomerism is a property of ‘chiral’ molecules. A molecule is chiral if it can exist in two distinct, mirror image forms. The common examples are molecules with four different groups/atoms attached to the same carbon atom. The two chiral isomers are related to each other as an object is to its image in a mirror. One example is 1-bromo-1-chloroethane, another is 2-hydroxypropanoic acid. The two isomers, on their own, have opposite effects on the plane of polarised light; they rotate it equally in opposite directions. The property of rotating the plane of polarised light is ‘optical activity’. This type of isomerism is often referred to as ‘optical isomerism’ to distinguish it from other kinds of isomerism. Risk assessment Before attempting any practical work based on the advice and suggestions on this website, you must do the following. Identify any hazards, assess the risks from these hazards, and then decide appropriate control measures to reduce the risks. You mu
