Properties of Chiral Molecules Optical Activity

Any molecule with a plane of symmetry or a center of symmetry is achiral, but their absence is not sufficient for a molecule to be chiral. A molecule lacking a center of symmetry or a plane of symmetry is likely to be chiral, but the superposability test should be apphed to be certain. 

To be optically active, the sample must contain a chiral substance and one enantiomer must be present in excess of the other. A substance that does not rotate the plane of polarized light is said to be optically inactive. All achiral substances are optically inactive. 

What causes optical rotation The plane of polarization of a light wave undergoes a minute rotation when it encounters a chiral molecule. Enantiomeric forms of a chiral molecule cause a rotation of the plane of polarization in exactly equal amounts but in 

The phenomenon of optical activity was cJiscoverecJ by the French physicist Jean-Baptiste Biot in 1815. 

Mixtures containing equal quantities of enantiomers are called racemic mixtures. Racemic mixtures are optically inactive. Conversely, when one enantiomer is present in excess, a net rotation of the plane of polarization is observed. At the limit, where all the molecules are of the same handedness, we say the substance is optically pure. Optical purity, or percent enantiomeric excess, is defined as  

---

Optical Activity One cool property of chiral molecules is optical activity. Enantiomers of a chiral molecule interact with polarized light, but one enantiomer tilts the polarization in one direction, while the other enantiomer tilts it in the opposite direction. This phenomenon is called optical activity. 

Both molecular mechanics and wave mechanics are formulated to deal with the intricacies of molecular structure in three-dimensional tangent space. In many cases, where the procedure is clearly inadequate, only minor assumptions are apparently required to remedy small defects. Familiarity with such anomalies eventually conditions the chemist into accepting the ad hoc assumptions as fundamental concepts. The remarkable conviction of most chemists that optical activity only occurs as the collective property of chiral molecules in the bulk is of this kind. It seems to avoid the absurd conclusion that the geometry of a chiral molecule could, by itself, cause optical rotation. Supposedly, it makes more sense to accept that a collection of molecules without symmetry generates the helical motion of charge... 

Chiro-optical properties. The optical properties specific of chiral molecules (optical rotation, circular dichroism, Raman optical activity (ROA)) may also be enhanced by the interaction with plasmons. This very interesting field is much less developed than others, although theoretical contributions have already been published (e.g. for surface-enhanced Raman optical activity, SEROA) [48,49]. 

Since chirality is a property of a molecule as a whole, the specific juxtaposition of two or more stereogenic centers in a molecule may result in an achiral molecule. For example, there are three stereoisomers of tartaric acid (2,3-dihydroxybutanedioic acid). Two of these are chiral and optically active but the third is not. 

Suitably Substituted Adamantanes. Adamantanes bearing four different substituents at the bridgehead positions are chiral and optically active, and 14, for example, has been resolved. This type of molecule is a kind of expanded tetrahedron and has the same symmetry properties as any other tetrahedron. 

Most of the physical properties (e.g., boiling and melting point, density, refractive index, etc.) of two enantiomers are identical. Importantly, however, the two enantiomers interact differently with polarized light. When plane polarized light interacts with a sample of chiral molecules, there is a measurable net rotation of the plane of polarization. Such molecules are said to be optically active. If the chiral compound causes the plane of polarization to rotate in a clockwise (positive) direction as viewed by an observer facing the beam, the compound is said to be dextrorotatory. An anticlockwise (negative) rotation is caused by a levorotatory compound. Dextrorotatory chiral compounds are often given the label d or ( + ) while levorotatory compounds are denoted by l or (—). 

Although pure compounds are always optically active if they are composed of chiral molecules, mixtures of equal amounts of enantiomers are optically inactive since the equal and opposite rotations cancel. Such mixtures are called racemic mixtures6 or racematesP Their properties are not always the same as those of the individual enantiomers. The properties in the gaseous or liquid state or in solution usually are the same, since such a mixture is nearly ideal, but properties involving the solid state,8 such as melting points, solubilities, and heats of fusion, are often different. Thus racemic tartaric acid has a melting point of 204-206°C and a solubility in water at 20°C of 206 g/liter, while for the ( + ) or the ( —)... 

Optical activity. The property of a molecule that leads to rotation of the plane of polarization of plane-polarized light when the latter is transmitted through the substance. Chirality is a necessary and sufficient property for optical activity. 

A racemic mixture contains equal amounts of the (+) enantiomer and the (-) enantiomer and has the designation (+/-). Racemic mixtures are not optically active, because the rotation of the dextrorotatory enantiomer cancels out the rotation of the levorotatory enantiomer. Synthesis or isolation of a single enantiomer in the laboratory is a challenging task, and most syntheses of chiral molecules result in a racemic mixture containing both enantiomers. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) policy statement drafted in 1992 and updated in 20053 requires pharmaceutical companies to characterize the properties of single enantiomers, and this adds difficulty, time, and expense to development of new medicines. 

Vibrational optical activity (VOA) is a relatively new area of natural optical activity. It consists of the measurement of optical activity in the spectral regions associated with vibrational transitions in chiral molecules. There are two basic manifestations of VOA. The first is simply the extension of electronic circular dichroism (CD) into the infrared region where fundamental one-photon vibrational transitions are located. This form of VOA is referred to as vibrational circular dichroism (VCD). It was first measured as a property of individual molecules in 1974 [1], and was independently confirmed in 1975 [2]. Within the past twelve years, VCD has been reviewed on a number of occasions from a variety of perspectives [3-15], and two more reviews are currently in press [16,17], The second form of VOA has no direct analog in classical forms of optical activity. Optical activity in Raman scattering, known simply as Raman optical activity (ROA), was measured successfully for the first time in 1973 [18], and confirmed independently in 1975 [19], ROA has been described in detail and reviewed several times in the past decade from several points of view [20-24], and two additional reviews [25,26], one with a view toward biological applications [25] and the other from a theoretical perspective [26], are currently in press. In addition, two articles of a pedagogical nature are in press that have been written for a general audience, one on infrared CD [27] and the other on ROA [28],... 

Stereoisomers can be classified into two types enantiomers and dia-stereomers. Enantiomers (mirror images) have identical physical and chemical properties and therefore are not separated on the conventional reversed-phase stationary phases. Their separation will not be discussed. Diastereomers are isomers which are not mirror images of the parent. They have slightly different physical and chemical properties and can often be separated on conventional stationary phases. There are two classes of diastereomers optically active isomers when the API has two or more stereocenters and non-optically active geometric isomers, such as cis-trans, syn-anti, etc. Stereoisomers of chiral molecules must be included in the peak set. 

---