How does geometric isomerism arise?

1 Answer
anor277
Aug 8, 2016

From the property that a carbon atom bound to 4 different groups can be handed.

Explanation:

See this [older answer.](https://socratic.org/questions/how-optical-isomers-arise).

That answer dealt with optical isomerism only. Structural isomerism deals with connectivity; geometric isomers have the same connectivity, but different geometry. The best example of this principle is "cis"-"2-butene"cis−2-butene versus "trans"-"2-butene"trans−2-butene, where each isomer certainly possesses the SAME connectivity, C1C1 connects to C2C2 connects to .........C4C4, but geometric isomerism is possible due to the orientation of the methyl groups about the olefinic bond.

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