meso compound
Achiral despite stereocenters
A meso compound is a molecule that contains chiral centers but is optically inactive because it has an internal plane of symmetry.
The mirror-image halves cancel each other out, so the molecule doesn't rotate polarized light.
Meso compounds are achiral despite having stereocenters—a concept that trips up many organic chemistry students: Meso-tartaric acid has two chiral carbons but no optical activity.
- chiralityMirror-image non-superimposability
- achiralIdentical to mirror image
- stereoisomerMolecule differing only spatially
- mirrorReflective viewing surface
- mirror imageReversed visual duplicate
symmetry · plane of symmetry · plane · superimposable · optical · inactive · carbon · tetrahedral · wedge · dash · Fischer · projection · rotation · polarized · light · mixture · asymmetric · center
- molecular formsisomer, enantiomer, stereoisomer, tautomer, conformer