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When I learnt about optical activity in school, my teacher told me that there is no way to theoritically predict whether a compound is dextrorotatory or leuvorotatory. How is that possible?

ICHO aspirant
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    Hope you make it to OCSC! – William R. Ebenezer May 15 '20 at 09:12
  • Because it may happen that some compound is dextrorotatory for one color (one wavelength) and levorotatory for another color (another wavelength) – Maurice May 15 '20 at 09:40
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    You can estimate via computational chemistry. – Zhe May 15 '20 at 12:27
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    In terms of why it's hard, consider the amino acids for the biologically prevalent enantiomer. If I told you the specific rotation for one of them, can you tell me the sign of the specific rotation of any other? – Zhe May 15 '20 at 12:32
  • @WilliamR.Ebenezer I thought OCSC term is used in my country only, is it used all across the world? Also have you attended OCSC? – Zenix May 15 '20 at 15:04
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    @Zenix, Nah, I couldn't make it. Didn't score enough. And yes, I believe the term is used worldwide. – William R. Ebenezer May 15 '20 at 15:16
  • Thanks to everyone who spent time to reply to my question. Thank you William for your wishes. Maurice, I understood your point. I didn't quite understand what Zhe meant in his second comment. – ICHO aspirant May 15 '20 at 19:54
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    A more accurate statement might be "not by simple inspection". And there might be a significant margin of error even in the best theory. – Buck Thorn May 17 '20 at 08:59
  • Related: https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/83990/what-is-occuring-on-the-quantum-level-when-a-molecule-rotates-plane-polarized-li/84136#84136 – Tyberius May 18 '20 at 21:45

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