Chiral Structures and States

Optical activity in solution, unlike the same effect in crystals, is an isotropic effect. This interaction between a polarized photon and a molecule therefore implicates a chiral factor that is independent of direction, such as the molecular wave function, and in particular, its complex phase. It is a non-classical factor and hence cannot be attributed directly to a classical three-dimensional structure. In a crystal where optical activity arises from three-dimensional 

The problem of how to reconcile the existence of optical isomers with the principles of quantum mechanics is an old one, reviewed in detail by Pfeifer[185], quoting from earlier works on the topic  

The conventional view is that the molecular basis of optical activity relates to an assumed non-zero scalar product of electric and magnetic transition moments that defines a rotational strength 

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