NEET 2007 Chemistry question

If there is no rotation of plane polarized light by a compound in a specific solvent, thought to be chiral, it may mean that

(1)the compound may be a racemic mixtureCorrect
(2)the compound is certainly a chiral
(3)the compound is certainly meso
(4)there is no compound in the solvent

Answer: (1)

Solution

A chiral compound rotates plane-polarised light. If no rotation is observed, the sample must be optically inactive. This happens (a) when the sample is a racemic mixture (equal amounts of the two enantiomers, whose rotations cancel by external compensation), or (b) when the compound is actually achiral/meso (internal

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Question ID VK-089878