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Answer 1 · 2016-12-15T01:53:08

There are 4 stereoisomers of 2-bromo-4-chloropentane.

The formula of 2-bromo-4-chloropentane is

$"CH"_3 stackrelcolor(blue)("*")("C")"HClCH"_2 stackrelcolor(blue)("*")("C")"HBrCH"_3$

The two chiral carbons are marked with an asterisk.

The maximum number of stereoisomers is $2^n = 2^2 = 4$ .

The various possibilities are shown below.

Bromochloropentane

Compound $bb"A"$ is $(2S,4R)"-2-bromo-4-chloropentane"$ .

Compound $bb"B"$ is $(2R,4S)"-2-bromo-4-chloropentane"$ .

$bb"A"$ and $bb"B"$ are enantiomers (nonsuperimposable mirror images) of each other.

Compound $bb"C"$ is $(2R,4R)"-2-bromo-4-chloropentane"$ .

Compound $bb"D"$ is $(2S,4S)"-2-bromo-4-chloropentane"$ .

$bb"C"$ and $bb"D"$ are enantiomers of each other.