Cannot be separated by fractional distillation

a-maleic acid and fumaric acid cannot be separated by fractional distillation.

Explanation

Isomers are compounds that have the same chemical formula but different structural arrangements of atoms. Fractional distillation is a separation technique that relies on differences in boiling points of compounds to separate them. However, a-maleic acid and fumaric acid have similar boiling points and cannot be separated by fractional distillation.

a-maleic acid and fumaric acid

a-maleic acid and fumaric acid are isomers of butenedioic acid, also known as succinic acid. The difference between the two isomers is the position of the carboxylic acid groups. In a-maleic acid, the two carboxylic acid groups are on the same side of the double bond, while in fumaric acid, the two carboxylic acid groups are on opposite sides of the double bond. This difference in structure affects their physical properties, including boiling points.

Tartaric acid and meso tartaric acid

Tartaric acid and meso tartaric acid can be separated by fractional distillation because they have different boiling points. Tartaric acid is a chiral molecule that exists in two mirror-image forms, known as enantiomers. Meso tartaric acid is a diastereomer of tartaric acid, meaning it has the same chemical formula but a different arrangement of atoms. However, meso tartaric acid is not chiral because it has an internal plane of symmetry. The presence of this plane of symmetry means that meso tartaric acid and tartaric acid have the same boiling point, and thus they can be separated by fractional distillation.

lactic acid isomers

Lactic acid occurs in two enantiomeric forms: ( )-lactic acid and (-)-lactic acid. These isomers cannot be separated by fractional distillation because they have identical boiling points, and the only difference between them is their optical rotation. Optical rotation is a property of chiral molecules that causes them to rotate the plane of polarized light. The two enantiomers of lactic acid rotate polarized light in opposite directions, but this difference is not detectable by boiling point-based separation techniques like fractional distillation. Therefore, alternative separation techniques like chromatography are used to separate lactic acid isomers.

I think answer is option c as enantiomers cant be separated as they have similar properties