Consider all structural isomers of carbonyl compounds (both aldehydes and ketones) with the molecular formula C₆H₁₂O . The total number of these structural isomers that are optically active is:

Step-by-step solution

The molecular formula is C₆H₁₂O . We need to find all optically active structural isomers that are aldehydes or ketones. For aldehydes ( C₅H₁₁-CHO ), the structural isomers correspond to the 8 isomeric alkyl groups of C₅H₁₁ . We check these 8 groups for chiral centers: 1. n-pentyl: achiral 2. isopentyl (3-methylbutyl): achiral 3. neopentyl (2,2-dimethylpropyl): achiral 4. tert-pentyl (1,1-dimethylpropyl): achiral 5. sec-pentyl (1-methylbutyl): chiral, giving 2-methylpentanal 6. 3-pentyl (1-ethylpropyl): achiral 7.