The Bailar twist is a mechanism proposed for the racemization

Racemization

In chemistry, racemization refers to the converting of an enantiomerically pure mixture into a mixture where more than one of the enantiomers are present...

 of octahedral complexes containing three bidentate chelate rings. Such complexes typically adopt an octahedral molecular geometry

Octahedral molecular geometry

In chemistry, octahedral molecular geometry describes the shape of compounds where in six atoms or groups of atoms or ligands are symmetrically arranged around a central atom, defining the vertices of an octahedron...

 and are thus chiral

Chirality (chemistry)

A chiral molecule is a type of molecule that lacks an internal plane of symmetry and thus has a non-superimposable mirror image. The feature that is most often the cause of chirality in molecules is the presence of an asymmetric carbon atom....

. One pathway by which these compounds can racemize is via the formation of a trigonal prismatic intermediate with D3h point group symmetry

Symmetry group

The symmetry group of an object is the group of all isometries under which it is invariant with composition as the operation...

. An alternative pathway is called the Ray-Dutt twist

Ray-Dutt twist

The Ray-Dutt twist is a mechanism proposed for the racemization of octahedral complexes containing three bidentate chelate rings. Such complexes typically adopt an octahedral molecular geometry in their ground states and are thus chiral. The pathway entails formation of an intermediate of C2v...

. This pathway is called the Bailar twist in honor of John C. Bailar, Jr., an inorganic chemist

Inorganic chemistry

Inorganic chemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the properties and behavior of inorganic compounds. This field covers all chemical compounds except the myriad organic compounds , which are the subjects of organic chemistry...

who investigated this process.