what is meso compound ?

An optically inactive compound whose molecule is superimposable on its Mirror image inspite of the presence of chiral carbon atoms is called a meso compound example: in terteric

The molecule contains two chiral carbon and the number of optical isomers should be 2^2equal to 2^n= 4 but the number of optical isomer is reduced to 3 because one molecule has plane of symmetry .
The stereoisomers of tartaric acid are,

• I and II are enantiomers (non-super imposable )
• III and IV are meso form (super impossible)

Share this post