Optical isomerism A2 chemistry help please

https://imgur.com/a/fyTtYy9

We were initially told that paracetamol does not have a chiral centre and that carvone does.

My question is: Would it be sensible to say that 100% of the yield produced can be used as paracetamol but only 50% of the product of synthesis of carvone is -ve Carvone ?

Reply 1

Kian Stevens

You're right: paracetamol doesn't have a chiral centre, whereas carvone does, so synthesis of paracetamol will produce 100% of just paracetamol

However, 50% of the carvone synthesis mixture will be (-)-carvone only if carvone is produced as a racemate, i.e. equimolar amounts of (-)-carvone and (+)-carvone. Even if it isn't produced as a racemate, you will still have a mixture of enantiomers, which will require separation to obtain one specific enantiomer and this is a difficult process
If you're performing the synthesis with one specific enantiomer in mind, then extra pathways/reagents/conditions may be required

In essence, synthesis of one specific enantiomer of an optical compound requires a lot more effort than the synthesis of a non-optical compound