Forming optical isomers?

Phil Kuarez: for optical isomers to be present, the molecule needs to be chiral (Optically active) --> with an sp3 hybridized central atom with 4 different substituents, usually carbon although other atoms can be found. CHCl3 --> achiral, so it's not optically active (the molecule would superimpose on its mirror image of itself; build a model or write a Lewis/VSEPR structure to see)CH2Cl2 --> achiral. mirror image isomer would superimpose(CH3)(CH2CH3)2NH^+1 --> achiral; it has two of the same substituents (ethyl groups)ICH(CH3)CO2H --> **** this is the answer. the central atom (carbon in this case) has four different substituents, making it chiral (I-, H-, CH3-, CO2H) since it is also sp3 hybridized. If you made two models mirrored to each other, you would find that you will only ever be able to superimpose 2 of the 4 substituents at a time.CH2(CO2H)2 --> achiral for the same reasons as the others above...Show more

Florencio Dingle: If there is a ciral carbon. The t! ime period chiral is used to describe an object which is non-superimposable on its replicate photo. In terms of chemistry, these objects are more often than not molecules and the be trained of chiral molecules and related phenomena is an extraordinarily active discipline. A molecule is chiral when it can not be superimposed on its replicate picture (see diagram) with the 2 replicate photograph types referred to as enantiomers. A combination of equal amounts of the two enantiomers is alleged to be a racemic combination. Chirality is of interest considering that of its application to stereochemistry in inorganic chemistry, healthy chemistry, bodily chemistry and biochemistry. The study of chirality falls within the domain of stereochemistry. The term non-superimposable distinguishes replicate pictures which might be superimposable, such as the letter "A" and its reflect snapshot, from those that are not. The classic illustration of this are human fingers. The left hand is a n! on-superposable mirror snapshot of the proper hand: no matter ! how the two hands are oriented relative to at least one a further, one can't line up all the predominant points of one hand with the opposite, whereas such an operation is trivial for a non-chiral reflect photograph (e.G., the letter "A"). The two "palms" (enantiomers) of a chiral molecule are normally known as optical isomers....Show more