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| Optical Isomerism |
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| The earliest optically active substances were all inorganic like quartz, rock crystals and so on. Later crystals of potassium chlorate, potassium bromate and sodium periodate were also found to exhibit optical activity. However, when these crystalline inorganic and organic compounds like benzil are fused or dissolved in a solvent, they lose their crystalline structure and their optical activity as well. This shows that these compounds are optically active because of their crystalline nature. |
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| Bigot discovered for the first time (1815) that certain organic compounds like sugar, tartaric acid, camphor, and turpentine were optically active in the liquid or in the solution state. |
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