How many chiral carbons does 2,4-dimethyl pentane have?

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Answer 1 · 2015-11-11T23:52:08

2,4-Dimethylpentane has no chiral carbons.

The structure of 2,4-dimethylpentane is

#("CH"_3)_2"CHCH"_2"CH"("CH"_3)_2#

A carbon atom must have four different groups to be chiral.

Every #"CH"_3# carbon has three #"H"# atoms.

The #"CH"_2# carbon has two #"H"# atoms.

And the #"CH"# carbons each have two #"CH"_3# groups.

So, no carbon atom in 2,4-dimethylpentane is chiral.