Lecture: Preparing Single Enantiomers and the Mechanism of Optical Rotation

Description

Lecture Description

Within a lecture on biological resolution, the synthesis of single enantiomers, and the naming and 3D visualization of omeprazole, Professor Laurence Barron of the University of Glasgow delivers a guest lecture on the subject of how chiral molecules rotate polarized light. Mixing wave functions by coordinated application of light's perpendicular electric and magnetic fields shifts electrons along a helix that can be right- or left-handed, but so many mixings are involved, and their magnitudes are so subtle, that predicting net optical rotation in practical cases is rarely simple.

Course Description

This is the first semester in a two-semester introductory course focused on current theories of structure and mechanism in organic chemistry, their historical development, and their basis in experimental observation. The course is open to freshmen with excellent preparation in chemistry and physics, and it aims to develop both taste for original science and intellectual skills necessary for creative research.

from course: Organic Chemistry