Why Cis 1,2-Dichlorocyclohexane is optically inactive even if it does not contain any symmetry? Among all the isomers cis~1,2-dichlorocyclohexane is unique and interesting. This compound does not contain any symmetry (POS, COS, AOS), so it is chiral, but ring flipping process typical of cyclohexane derivatives converts it to its enantiomer. cd pit. (A) (A’) A'can be represented as a 5. 43 h 6 45 eV e « KA ety Oey cl ca Lode — ak (A) (A’) (non super imposable mirror image) Thus although cis-1,2-dichlorochclohexane is chiral, it is opitcally inactive, when. chair-chair interconversion occurs. Such interconversion is rapid at room temperature and converts optically active ‘A’ to a racemic mixture of A and A!. Because A and A’ are enantiomers interconvertible by a conformational change, they are some times reffered so as conformational enan The same kind of spontaneous racemization occurs for any cis~1,2 disubstituted cyclohexane in which both substituents are same. Because such compounds are chiral, itis incorrect to speak of them as meso compounds. mers. The conclusion of this article is that chirality is necessary but not sufficient condition for optical activity.