Summary Unit 3.3.7 - Optical isomerism (A-level only)
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Course
Unit 3.3.7 - Optical isomerism
Institution
AQA
Detailed summary of the AQA A level chemistry topic, optical isomerism according to the specification. Describes the definition of optical isomers, racemates and finding the chiral centre.
optical isomerism
spec
Optical isomerism is a form of stereoisomerism and occurs
as a result of chirality in molecules, limited to molecules
with a single chiral centre.
An asymmetric carbon atom is chiral and gives rise to
optical isomers (enantiomers), which exist as non superimposable mirror images
and differ in their effect on the plane
polarised light.
A mixture of equal amounts of enantiomers is called a
racemic mixture (racemate).
Students should be able to:
• draw the structural formulas and displayed formulas of
enantiomers
• understand how racemic mixtures (racemates) are
formed and why they are optically inactive
optical isomerism is a form of stereoisomers - they have the same structural formula
but different arrangements of atoms in space
optical isomers are mirror images of each other and have a chiral carbon atom
a chiral molecule has four different groups attached to a carbon atom - can be
arranged in 2 different ways which form two different molecules - called
enantiomers
these enantiomers are mirror images of each other and are non-superimposable. no
matter which way you turn them they will not overlap.
optical isomerism 1
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