1-Naphthalenesulfinic acid

Mesitylene-, pseudocumene-, p-chlorobenzene, p-bromobenzene- and 1-naphthalenesulfinic acid have been prepared by the same method. 

All attempts to prepare and study optically active 2-naphthalenesulfinic acid are doomed to failure." What possible justification could be made for this prediction ... 

Although sulfur is a chiral center because the molecule does not undergo inversion, rapid racemization occurs by formation of the sulfinate anion, making all attempts to prepare and study optically active 2-naphthalenesulfinic acid doomed to failure. (Remember that a racemic modification is a mixture of equal parts of enantiomers, and is therefore optically inactive) ... 

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