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Do all chiral molecules have chiral centres? Ans: No .But why?

Do all chiral molecules have chiral centres?
Ans: No .But why?

Grade:12th Pass

1 Answers

Saurabh Kumar
askIITians Faculty 2400 Points
8 years ago
Chirality is a property of individual molecules. If a molecule is chiral then we know that the molecule has two enantiomeric forms (which are almost identical but are actually different molecules).
There are three different common tests for chirality. You can use which ever test is easiest to apply for a particular molecule.




Test 1: Draw the mirror image of the molecule and see if the two molecules are the same or different. If they are different, then the molecule is chiral. If they are the same, then it is not chiral. (This is the most comprehensive test but is the most difficult to apply.)


Test 2: If the molecule has only one chiral center, then the molecule is chiral. If the molecule has more than one chiral center, it is most likely chiral. The exceptions are meso-compounds, which have chiral centers but are not chiral due to the presence of a place of symmetry.




Test 3: If a molecule has a plane of symmetry, then the molecule is not chiral (achiral). (This is probably the easiest test to apply. It works for almost every case.)

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