Why do chiral molecules rotate polarized light?

Answer 1

This is an excellent question, and you might not get the answer you want here.......

Assuming you are brothers, let's say you have an identical twin who is the same size as you. Now, shake hands: your right hand fits in his right hand, and you can also shake left hand to left hand; the hands fit and overlap (interestingly, the twins WOULD have different sets of fingerprints, but that's a side note). But why can't you two shake left hand to right hand or vice versa? Try this with a partner. Sometimes, even without looking at your shoes, your feet can feel the proper geometry.

The phenomenon can now be extended to plane-polarized light, which interacts with each (homochiral) stereoisomer in a different way. As you are aware, light interacts with matter at specific frequencies and in specific ways; this is the fundamental idea behind all spectroscopy. One of these interactions is that between plane-polarized light and homochiral enantiomers.

In principle, if a solution of a homochiral isomer rotates light clockwise by an angle #alpha#, its enantiomer will rotate light in a direction #-alpha#. Sometimes, the enantiomer is not available for comparison; for instance the sugar that you put on your breakfast cereal is a very common chiral material, and literally mega-tonnes of it are produced, not only chemically pure but OPTICALLY pure. Left-handed sugars, (the same structure but the mirror image) CAN now be produced with effort. It would not be metabolized, because our enzymes, themselves with a specific handedness, are tuned to a specific geometry......

In conclusion, you simply have to accept the fact that chiral molecules rotate plane-polarized light. If you conduct experiments in the lab, seek the advice of your teaching assistant (TA), who is typically very knowledgeable and eager to impart his or her knowledge.

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Answer 2

Chiral molecules rotate polarized light because they lack an internal plane of symmetry, causing them to interact differently with left- and right-handed polarized light waves as they pass through the molecule, resulting in rotation of the plane of polarization.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.

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