In: Chemistry
What does it mean for a molecule to be optically active?
A compound is called as optical active which can rotate the plane polarised light. If the compound rotates the plane polarised light towards left than it is called as levorotatory indicated by (l) or (-) and the compound which rotate the plane polarised light to the right is called as dextrorotatory indicated by (d) or (+).
condition for optical activity-
1) compound must caontain one chiral carbon (i.e.- carbon bonded to four different atoms or groups)
2) compound should not have superimposable mirror image (or shoud not have mirror plane symmetry)