Drawn below are the structures of (+)-menthol and (-)-menthol. These are stereoisomers of one another. They have identical physical properties are indiscernible by most laboratory techniques (e.g. melting point, boiling point, IR spectroscopy), except they interact with polarized light differently (hence the +/- designation). Curiously, they can be perceived differently by humans by our sense of smell. (a) Make a model of the structures or draw them both and describe how they are related geometrically. (b) Why is it that these nearly physically identical compounds can be discerned by our sense of smell? OH HO (+)-menthol (-)-menthol

Organic Chemistry
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Chapter16: Chemistry Of Benzene: Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution
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Drawn below are the structures of (+)-menthol and (-)-menthol. These are stereoisomers of one another. They
have identical physical properties are indiscernible by most laboratory techniques (e.g. melting point, boiling
point, IR spectroscopy), except they interact with polarized light differently (hence the +/-
designation). Curiously, they can be perceived differently by humans by our sense of smell. (a) Make a model
of the structures or draw them both and describe how they are related geometrically. (b) Why is it that these
nearly physically identical compounds can be discerned by our sense of smell?
OH
HO
(+)-menthol
(-)-menthol
Transcribed Image Text:Drawn below are the structures of (+)-menthol and (-)-menthol. These are stereoisomers of one another. They have identical physical properties are indiscernible by most laboratory techniques (e.g. melting point, boiling point, IR spectroscopy), except they interact with polarized light differently (hence the +/- designation). Curiously, they can be perceived differently by humans by our sense of smell. (a) Make a model of the structures or draw them both and describe how they are related geometrically. (b) Why is it that these nearly physically identical compounds can be discerned by our sense of smell? OH HO (+)-menthol (-)-menthol
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