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Can someone please help me for Chemistry

How many stereoisomers does the compound CH3CH(Br)CH=CHCH(Cl)CH3 have? The answer is 8, also can we upload images on here? I don't understand how they got the answer, I put two...

Reply 1

Original post
by LisaPerera
How many stereoisomers does the compound CH3CH(Br)CH=CHCH(Cl)CH3 have? The answer is 8, also can we upload images on here? I don't understand how they got the answer, I put two...

This isn’t taught at A level, but the trick for these questions is to use combinations and permutations from GCSE maths (remember - ANYTHING from GCSE maths is assumed knowledge and can be assessed in addition to what you study in class at A level).

You need to look out for any stereogenic centres (i.e unsymmetrical alkenes and chiral carbons). Each stereogenic centre has 2 possible configurations, so if there are n stereogenic centres, you can expect 2^n possible isomers (where the molecule is asymmetric in all cases and thus there is no possibility of double-counting. Thankfully this is the case for this molecule…)

So how might you proceed?

Reply 2

Original post
by TypicalNerd
This isn’t taught at A level, but the trick for these questions is to use combinations and permutations from GCSE maths (remember - ANYTHING from GCSE maths is assumed knowledge and can be assessed in addition to what you study in class at A level).
You need to look out for any stereogenic centres (i.e unsymmetrical alkenes and chiral carbons). Each stereogenic centre has 2 possible configurations, so if there are n stereogenic centres, you can expect 2^n possible isomers (where the molecule is asymmetric in all cases and thus there is no possibility of double-counting. Thankfully this is the case for this molecule…)
So how might you proceed?
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With 1 and 2 I circled those have chiral carbons so have 2 different isomers each, and then because of the double bond I know that if you flip one side on the same side of one of the carbons you gave another isomers so that goes to 3 and then 2^3 is 8. Is that correct logic?

Reply 3

Original post
by LisaPerera
We're just checking this attachment, please wait...
With 1 and 2 I circled those have chiral carbons so have 2 different isomers each, and then because of the double bond I know that if you flip one side on the same side of one of the carbons you gave another isomers so that goes to 3 and then 2^3 is 8. Is that correct logic?

The logic is perfectly correct. I can't actually see the image attached at the time of writing (it appears it is still being moderated), but I imagine it's probably just explaining what you are trying to describe (e.g. E/Z isomerism in the alkene).

Reply 4

Original post
by TypicalNerd
The logic is perfectly correct. I can't actually see the image attached at the time of writing (it appears it is still being moderated), but I imagine it's probably just explaining what you are trying to describe (e.g. E/Z isomerism in the alkene).

great thank you very much for the help!!

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