What does a racemic compound indicate about the mixture of enantiomers?

A racemic compound is a mixture that contains equal amounts of both enantiomers of a chiral molecule. Enantiomers are non-superimposable mirror images of each other, and the presence of equal concentrations of each enantiomer results in a racemic mixture.

This equal balance means that any optical activity contributed by one enantiomer is exactly canceled out by the activity of the other enantiomer. As a result, racemic compounds do not exhibit optical rotation, making them optically inactive overall, despite being made up of two optically active enantiomers.

Therefore, the defining characteristic of a racemic compound is the presence of equal concentrations of its component enantiomers.