Tartaric Acid

Tartaric Aid


Tartaric acid was originally isolated from potassium tartrate (also known as tartar) around 900 AD by a man named Jābir ibn Hayyān. It is a naturally occurring acid that is found in many plants such as; bananas, grapes, and tamarids (dates). This white crystalline diprotic acid is one of the main acids found in wine and can also be used as used an antioxidant. Although it has a sour taste, when combined with baking soda the compound functions as a leaving agent used in cooking recipes.

Tartaric acid is considered to be chiral which just means that the molecules are not superimposable on their mirror images. The naturally occurring form of the acid is L-(+)-tartaric acid (known as dextrotartaric acid) and the enantiomer is D-(−)-tartaric acid (known as levotartaric acid). An artificial form can be created called mesotartaric acid which is the achiral form if tartaric acid.

There are many uses for tartaric acid and its derivatives in the pharmaceutical field and for industrial use. Some things that have come from its production include; improve the taste of oral medications (through the use of effervescent salts combined with citric acid), its use as chelating agent for complex micronutrients in soil, and even cleaning metal surfaces consisting of aluminum, copper, iron. Below are the three stereoisomers of tartaric acid [(2R,3S), (2S,3S), (2R, 3R)].

http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov//compound/875?from=summary#section=Top

http://www.chemtube3d.com/STtartaricacid.html

http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Tartaric_acid.html