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where is this question from?
Should it say 1 and 3??? 2 is in trans, why would that be meso?
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It is meso because there arent any other chiral carbons in the compound, so if you did the enantiomer (or mirror image) of this compound, you get the same exact stereochemistry. thus it is meso
Question is kind of ******ed/difficult to think about because of the ring strain. However I would say 1 and 3 would be classified as the mesos. The trans 1,2 dihydroxycyclopentane can have D and L forms, so it shouldn't be meso.
ring strain does not affect a compounds ability to be meso.
trans 1,2 dihydroxycyclopentane is NOT meso, there's no plane of symmetry
Take a cis 1,2 hydroxycyclohexane vrs a cis 1,3 hydroxycyclohexane. The 1,3 is the meso form...
why isn't cis 1-2 meso?
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It is meso because there arent any other chiral carbons in the compound, so if you did the enantiomer (or mirror image) of this compound, you get the same exact stereochemistry. thus it is meso
This compound is NOT meso. What you're saying is not wrong, b/c the enantiomer would be the same as this molecule if you rotate it. And that is what makes the enantiomer and this compound to be the SAME molecule. However, a molecule to be a meso compound, there needs to have a plane of symmetry passing thru the molecule itself, which this molecule does not have. Therefore, this molecule is NOT meso.
In short, the enantiomer of this compound is the compound itself, and this compound is NOT meso.
the answer should be 1 and 3 in my opinion. The question asks which molecule "can" exist as a meso compound. The third choice "can" and "cannot" exist as a meso compound, but b/c of the type of the question, i'd say 3 "can" exist as a meso compound. My choices would be 1 and 3. #1 is definitely meso.
Thanks for the catch. I understood my mistake.you might be getting your structure a bit mixed up. the enantiomer of the trans dihydroxycyclopentane is exactly that, an enantiomer. They are non-superimposable and are not the same molecule. meso and identical entantiomers kind of go hand-in-hand because the internal plane of symmetry is what allows the enantiomer to be "flipped" to become the original molecule.
This compound is NOT meso. What you're saying is not wrong, b/c the enantiomer would be the same as this molecule if you rotate it. And that is what makes the enantiomer and this compound to be the SAME molecule. However, a molecule to be a meso compound, there needs to have a plane of symmetry passing thru the molecule itself, which this molecule does not have. Therefore, this molecule is NOT meso.
In short, the enantiomer of this compound is the compound itself, and this compound is NOT meso.
the answer should be 1 and 3 in my opinion. The question asks which molecule "can" exist as a meso compound. The third choice "can" and "cannot" exist as a meso compound, but b/c of the type of the question, i'd say 3 "can" exist as a meso compound. My choices would be 1 and 3. #1 is definitely meso.