Optical activity measurements on solids. 3. Non‐optically active synthetic polymers

Measurements of the non‐existence of optical activity in suspensions of synthetic optically inactive polymer powders were made to evaluate the limitation of our measurement technique. A particle size of less than 150μm was necessary to obtain accurate measurements. A high degree of crystallinity interfered with the measurements and gave erratic results. In all cases, for various types of commonly used polymers, the optical activity measurements with a zero value for optical rotation demonstrated that reliable measurements could be made with an accuracy of about ±3%.