F324 Unit 4: Optical Isomerism

Optical isomerism

• Optical isomers are stereoisomers that are non-superimposable mirror images of each other:
  • Must contain a C atom attatched to four different groups or atoms (chiral)
  • Chemically identical but they rotate plane polarised light in different ways
  • Only 2 optical isomers per chiral carbon

 …