CHAPTER 3: Question 7

 

2D explanations

There are three stereoisomers of this compound. Firstly, there are a pair of cis/trans isomers, the cis-isomer and the trans-isomer shown below. However, the trans-isomer contains a stereogenic plane and hence exists as a pair of enantiomers (as shown by the red line representing a mirror in the diagram below), thus generating the total of three stereoisomers. Note that the cis-isomer is achiral and does not possess a stereogenic plane. The cis-isomer is a diastereomer of either of the two trans-isomers since it is a stereoisomer of the trans-isomer but is not their mirror image. This definition of diastereomers was introduced in Chapter 1. The two trans-isomers are enantiomers of one another.

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