• Want to help us with this year's BoS Trials?
    Let us know before 30 June. See this thread for details
  • Looking for HSC notes and resources?
    Check out our Notes & Resources page

isomers of haloalkanes (1 Viewer)

Jaydels

Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2004
Messages
472
Location
somewhere you're not
Gender
Female
HSC
2005
identify and name some examples of isomers (excluding geometrical and optical) of haloalkanes up to eight carbon atoms

I find this dotpoint a bit ambiguous. Does it want us to give examples of isomers of haloalkanes from C1 to C8, or just to five some examples of haloalkanes of C8 or below?

Also, what does it mean by geometrical and optical?
 

fantasy27

Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2004
Messages
525
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
i thought it just means you should know how to identify isomers with up to 8 carbon atoms.. just recognise how them and how to name them
 

Slidey

But pieces of what?
Joined
Jun 12, 2004
Messages
6,600
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
Geometrical I would assume means show their actual orientation and shape, while optical simply means identify in what order the atoms are arranged.

For example: Water is just H-O-H, but geometrically it as actually shaped more like a V.
 

Cab31

Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2004
Messages
513
Location
Brisbane
Gender
Female
HSC
2004
Slide Rule said:
Geometrical I would assume means show their actual orientation and shape, while optical simply means identify in what order the atoms are arranged.

For example: Water is just H-O-H, but geometrically it as actually shaped more like a V.
Optical is refering to chirality. You dont learn about it in the HSC course. Its basically about having a mirror image of a mollecule that, if rotated, does not fit exactly on top of the original mollecule. This makes them enantiomers and if a plane of polarised light in special equipment is put on them, one rotates light a certain angle to the right (say 10 degrees) and the other will rotate light in the same angle to the left. They are isomers because their mollecular formula is the same but their orientation in space is different.

When they say that geometric isomers arent included i think that means cis- and trans- isomerism. Which doesnt effect alkanes anyway (alkenes can be effected though).

Hope that helps :)
 

Jumbo Cactuar

Argentous Fingers
Joined
Sep 8, 2003
Messages
425
Gender
Male
HSC
2003
All you need to do is identify differences based on empirical formulas.

All you need to know about is, say the difference between isobutane and butane, 1-chlorobutane and 2-chlorobutane etc.

Geometric and optical isomerism comes into play when you consider a molecule in three dimensions, so don't worry about it.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top