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levorotatory
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levorotatory

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Quick Summary

Levorotatory describes something that rotates the plane of polarized light to the left or counterclockwise. This property is known as optical activity, where a substance can alter the direction of light's polarization.12

A substance is levorotatory if it has a negative specific rotation, indicated by the prefix 'l' or (-). This is in contrast to dextrorotatory substances, which rotate light clockwise (positive specific rotation, prefix 'd' or (+)). Optical activity arises from the specific, non-superimposable arrangement of atoms within a molecule, a phenomenon known as chirality.23

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7 Britannica Sources
  1. levorotatory
  2. optical activity
  3. optical activity
  4. lev-
  5. dextrorotatory
  6. isomerism - Enantiomers
  7. isomerism - Stereoisomers of more complex molecules

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