Question

N-ethyl-N-methylamine is chiral but non resoluble?

Answer 1

Chirality is a geometric property of certain molecules and ions. It means the molecule are asymmetric in such a specific way that the structure and its respective mirror image are not superimposable.

N-ethyl-N-methylamine is a chiral amine but it cannot be resolved due to several factors. There is a rapid conversion of lone pair of ‘N’ atom inside out at room temperature which is referred to as flipping.

This is quite similar to an umbrella in a wind storm.

Chirality is due to the presence of stereogenic carbon atom which can however, be resolved into enantiomers.

For eg.,Phosphorous containing compound phosphines and sulphur containing compound sulphoxide, sulphonium salt.

Hope it helps!

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