How many stereoisomers are possible for CHBrClF provided that the central carbon has a square planar geometry?

1 Answer
Ernest Z.
Dec 24, 2015

There are three possible stereoisomers for a square planar "CHBrClF".

Explanation:

They are

Isomers

Start with "H" and "Br" cis to each other.

Then you can put "F" or "Cl" trans to the "H". This gives you two of the isomers.

For the third isomer, put "H" and "Br" trans to each other.

There are no optical isomers for square planar "CHBrClF", because any planar compound has a mirror plane in the plane of the paper, dividing the top half of each atom into a mirror image of its bottom half.

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