CHAPTER 3: Question 7

3D 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. 3D rotatable structures of each of the three stereoisomers are also shown below to aid in their visualization. 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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