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Esters- are they both optically active isomers?

A question I was doing asked for an optically active ester isomer of C6H12O2

The only answer on the mark scheme was methyl 2-methylbutanoate (think that's named correctly)

But could it be 1-methylpropylethanoate too? The chiral carbon is just on the other side of the COO ester group but it has the same molecular formular and I'm pretty sure it's optically active

Thanks :smile:
Original post by jazz_xox_
A question I was doing asked for an optically active ester isomer of C6H12O2

The only answer on the mark scheme was methyl 2-methylbutanoate (think that's named correctly)

But could it be 1-methylpropylethanoate too? The chiral carbon is just on the other side of the COO ester group but it has the same molecular formular and I'm pretty sure it's optically active

Thanks :smile:


There are several optical isomers possible.

butyl(1-methyl) methanoate
butyl(2-methyl) methanoate

to name but two

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