Q. Which one of the following has an optical isomer?
Coordination Compounds
Solution:
Optical isomers rarely occur in square planar complexes due to the presence of axis of symmetry.
Optical isomerism is common in octahedral complexes of the general formula, $\left[Ma_{2}b_{2}c_{2}\right]^{n\pm}, \left[Mabcdef\right],\left[M\left(AA\right)_{3}\right]^{n\pm}, \left[M\left(AA\right)_{2}a_{2}\right]^{n\pm}, \left[M\left(AA\right)_{2}ab\right]^{n\pm}$ and $\left[M\left(AB\right)_{3}\right]^{n\pm}.$ Thus, among the given options, only $[Co(en)_3]^{3+}$ shows optical isomerism.
