What type of stereoisomer is shown by butan-2-ol and how can we prove it?
The answer is optical isomerism. Optical isomerism exists when a carbon has 4 different groups attached to it. In Butan-2-ol, the second carbon has a hydroxy group, ethyl group, a methyl group and a hydrogen attached. Furthermore, to test if this molecule is an optical isomer, we shine plane polarised monochromatic light, which will not rotate the light.
AI
Related Chemistry A Level answers
All answers ▸Why are molecules coloured?
Alcohols can be converted into alkenes in an elimination reaction. The elimination of H2O from pentan-2-ol forms a mixture of organic products. Give the names and structures of all the organic products in the mixture.
What is Hund's rule?
Write a half-equation for the overall oxidation of ethanol into ethanoic acid.