OPTICALLY PURE Meaning and
Definition
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Optically pure refers to a state or condition where a substance or mixture is composed solely of a single enantiomer or optical isomer, with no presence of its mirror image or any other stereoisomer. In other words, it is the characteristic of a chemical compound or substance that exclusively possesses one specific spatial arrangement of atoms, resulting in a lack of symmetry within its molecular structure.
Optical purity is determined by the absence of any racemization, the process by which a mixture of enantiomers interconverts or rearranges into one another. A substance that is optically pure exhibits a consistent, uniform composition with a complete separation of enantiomers.
Optical isomerism arises due to the presence of a chiral center in a molecule, or a carbon atom connected to four distinct groups. The two enantiomers, often referred to as "left-handed" and "right-handed," have identical physical and chemical properties, except for their interaction with plane-polarized light. Optically pure compounds are highly sought after in various scientific and industrial fields, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, where the specific geometric arrangement of atoms greatly affects a compound's biological activity and efficiency.
The attainment of optically pure substances often involves meticulous synthetic or separation methods, such as chiral resolution techniques or selective synthesis using chiral catalysts. These techniques allow for the isolation or generation of either enantiomer with high purity, resulting in enantiopure or optically pure compounds that hold significant importance in many applications.
Etymology of OPTICALLY PURE
The term "optically pure" is a combination of the words "optically" and "pure", which have their own respective etymologies.
1. Optically:
The word "optically" is derived from the Latin word "opticus", which means "of sight" or "of the eye". "Opticus" itself is derived from the Greek word "optikos", meaning "of or for sight". It is related to the Greek word "opsis", which means "a view" or "a sight".
2. Pure:
The word "pure" comes from the Latin word "purus", which means "clean", "unmixed", or "unadulterated". "Purus" can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root word "*pewH-", meaning "clean" or "apesh".
