What are meso compounds?

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What are meso compounds?

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Answer 1 · 2018-05-09T14:23:47

These are formally $R S$ $RS$ compounds....

Explanation:

A meso compound is a symmetric $RS$ $"RS"$ compound with an internal mirror plane, and FORMALLY TWO chiral centres. And this is best appreciated by a simple example .... consider ....

$H_{3} C . C H (O H) . C H (O H) C H_{3}$ $"H"_3CdotCH(OH)dotCH(OH)CH"_3$

...the dotted carbon are EACH formally chiral...and this compound SHOULD give rise to FOUR diastereomers... $RR$ $"RR"$ , and $SS$ $"SS"$ , and $RS$ $"RS"$ , and $SR$ $"SR"$ .

However, $RS$ $"RS"$ , and $SR$ $"SR"$ CLEARLY have an internal mirror plane, and these are EQUIVALENT meso isomers....and if you cannot see this on paper you should make a model.

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What are meso compounds?

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