OPTICAL ACTIVITY OF SATURATED KETONES

Previous theoretical treatments of the octant and quadrant rules for predicting the sign of the rotational strength of the n→π* transition in optically active saturated ketones are re-examined and combined to determine which of the two rules is better able to account for experimental results. The basis set which leads to the octant rule is found to reproduce the experimental rotational strengths fairly well. The anomalous effect of a fluorine atom is examined within the framework of a static, dissymmetric perturbation, and it is found that in this case, the method is inadequate to account for the experimental results.