Optical Isomerism Part 1 | Full Lesson (scan for video preview)

Optical isomerism for A level Chemistry. What is chirality? What is a racemic mixture? What are enantiomers? 3D diagrams of optical isomers? All this and more covered in this comprehensive lesson with questions and answers! This is a Year 13 A level lesson for Edexcel International Unit 4 – WCH14, but it can also be used for all UK exam boards. All the slides in this lesson are fully animated and include answers to every mini plenary question and exam question. The breakdown of the slides (which are best opened on Microsoft PowerPoint) is as follows:

Slide 1 - Title and 5-minute starter. The starter is a grid of four questions entitled ‘last week, last lesson, today’s learning and future learning’. Use this generic slide for all your lessons by simply changing the questions and the answers each time.
Slide 2 - Lesson objectives (see thumbnail image)
Slide 3 – a short isomerism recap quiz with answers that appear when you are ready
Slide 4 – introduction to the two types of stereoisomerism
Slide 5 – zeroing in on optical isomerism
Slides 6 – 9: use this section to introduce the concept of chirality to students. The example starts with hands and bottles, before linking the concept to molecules
Slide 10 – introduction to the term ‘enantiomers’
Slide 11 – can you find the chiral carbon? Students can complete this task on a mini whiteboard. The answer appears on the screen when you click
Slide 12 – use this slide to introduce students to the 2n formula, which students can use to work out how many optical isomers a molecule has
Slides 13 – 17: independent practice task which will help students to practise drawing 3D diagrams of optical isomers. Answers are on slide 16, along with alternative answers on slide 17. Slides 14 – 15 are hidden and can be used for printing the task for students
Slides 18 – 23: does optical isomerism matter for anything? Use this section to teach students about the effect of optical isomers on the plane of polarised light. There is an in-depth explanation included on how the polarimeter works
Slide 24 – key takeaway slide about enantiomers
Slide 25 – slide with images relating to the thalidomide tragedy. Possible class discussion, remove if triggering
Slides 26 – 29: exam questions for a learning pit stop. These are included with the resource along with the answers. The answers have also been pasted onto slides within the PowerPoint
Slide 30 – use this slide to teach students about racemates
Slides 31 – 36: Exam questions with mark scheme answers (included with the resource)

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