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Topic: optically active molecules  (Read 5231 times)

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nemzy

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optically active molecules
« on: January 28, 2005, 02:24:05 AM »
how do we know if a molecule is optically active?

does it have to do something about R,S configurations?  I have no idea, what it is...and how to know whether a molecule is optically active or not

thanks
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Offline Mitch

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Re:optically active molecules
« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2005, 02:30:11 AM »
There is a real simple way. 1.) Draw the mirror image of the molecule. If the mirror image can be made to overlap the original molecule then it is not optically active.
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dexangeles

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Re:optically active molecules
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2005, 04:33:14 PM »
then in a mixture

1 configuration should be more (in excess of) than the other
if it is a racemic mixture (equal amounts of configuration) the mixture won't be optically active
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