text: Electronic transitions are forbidden if they do not change this property according to the Laporte selection rule.
full_question: Electronic transitions are forbidden if they do not change this property according to the Laporte selection rule. Point groups characterize this property of a molecule. In molecules with this property, modes cannot be both IR and Raman active according to the rule of mutual exclusion. Molecules with this property are not polar even if they have polar bonds. Because meso compounds have one form of this property, they are not chiral, as that form of this property results in a superimposable mirror image. For 10 points, name this property a molecule can have if its shape is the same after a transformation such as inversion, rotation, or reflection. 
first_sentence: Electronic transitions are forbidden if they do not change this property according to the Laporte selection rule.
raw_answer: symmetry [accept specific answers such as centrosymmetry or inversion symmetry]