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6. How can you test if a compund is optically active?

  • cross your fingers and hope
  • If they rotate a plane of polarised light
  • add NaOH
  • If the rotate a plane of light

7. Why?

  • because thats how chemistry works
  • because planar ion can be attcked by nucleophile from either side
  • because planar ion can only be attacked by nucleophile from one side

8. Define a racemic mixture

  • contains equal quantities of each enantiomer of an optically active compound (50/50)
  • contains similar quantites of each enantiomer of an optically active compound
  • contains only 1 enantiomer of an optically active compound