Question

Select the correct statement(s) about the optical isomers of tartaric acid.

• A. Two of them are optically active compounds
• B. Two of them are meso compounds
• C. One of them is a meso compound
• D. Total number of optical isomers are three

Answer 1

Answer: (A), (C), (D)

Two of them are optically active compounds
One of them is a meso compound
Total number of optical isomers are three

Meso tartaric acid is an inactive variety and the rotation of upper half is compensated by the rotation due to lower half.

There are total $4$ isomers of tartaric acid in which $2$ of them are similar so there will be $3$ optical isomers in total.

Dextro tartaric acid rotates the plane of polarization to right and rotation due to Levo tartaric acid is to the left. Both are optically active.