Acids tartaric

CsHsO. Colourless, crystalline solid m.p. 115 C. Prepared by the dry distillation of tartaric acid or by reduction of itaconic or cilra-conic acids. Forms an anhydride when heated to 200"C. 

CHjCOCOOH. A colourless liquid with an odour resembling that of ethanoic acid, m.p. 13 C, b.p. 65 C/lOmm. It is an intermediate in the breakdown of sugars to alcohol by yeast. Prepared by distilling tartaric acid with potassium hydrogen sulphate. Tends 10 polymerize to a solid (m.p. 92 C). Oxidized to oxalic acid or ethanoic acid. Reduced to ( + )-Iactic acid. 

Racemic acid, ( )-tartaric acid, is a compound of the two active forms. M.p. 273 C (with IHjO), m.p. 205°C (anhydrous). Less soluble in water than (-t-)-tartaric acid. Formed, together with mesotartaric acid, by boiling (4-)-tartaric acid with 30% NaOH solution, or by oxidation of fumaric acid. Potassium hydrogen racemate is very insoluble. 

Tartaric acid is noteworthy for a) the excellent way in which the majority of its salts Crystallise, and h) the frequent occurrence of salts having mixed cations. Examples of the latter are sodium potassium tartrate (or Rochelle salt), C4H40 NaK, used for the preparation of Fehling s solution (p. 525), sodium ammonium tartrate, C4H OaNaNH4, used by Pasteur for his early optical resolution experiments, and potassium antimonyl tartrate (or Tartar Emetic), C4H404K(Sb0). The latter is prepared by boiling a solution of potassium hydrogen tartrate (or cream of tartar ) with antimony trioxide,... 

Acetophenone similarly gives an oxime, CHjCCgHjlCtNOH, of m.p. 59° owing to its lower m.p. and its greater solubility in most liquids, it is not as suitable as the phenylhydrazone for characterising the ketone. Its chief use is for the preparation of 1-phenyl-ethylamine, CHjCCgHslCHNHj, which can be readily obtained by the reduction of the oxime or by the Leuckart reaction (p. 223), and which can then be resolved by d-tartaric acid and /-malic acid into optically active forms. The optically active amine is frequently used in turn for the resolution of racemic acids. 

Tartaric acid and tartrates also swell up, blacken and give an odour resembling burnt sugar. Citrates and lactates also char, and give off odours resembling burnt sugar. 

Take two test-tubes A and B in A place about 5 ml. of neutralised tartaric acid solution and in B place 5 ml. of distilled water. To each solution add 3-4 drops of ferric chloride solution. Place a piece of white paper under the tubes, look down their length and note that A is definitely yellow compared with the control tube B. This yellow colour is given by a-hydroxy-carboxylic-acids, lactic acid, tartaric acid, citric acid. 

Sulphuric add test. Warm 0 5 g. of tartaric acid or a tartrate with i ml. of cone. H2SO4. Heavy charring takes place, CO and SOj being evolved. 

Fenton s reagent. To a solution of tartaric acid or a tartrate add 1 drop of freshly prepared ferrous sulphate solution, i drop of hydrogen peroxide solution and then excess of NaOH solution an intense violet coloration is produced, due to the ferric salt of dihydroxyfumaric acid, HOOC C(OH) C(OH)COOH. 

Does not reduce ammoniacal AgNO, solution cf. tartaric acid)... 

The purified commercial di-n-butyl d-tartrate, m.p. 22°, may be used. It may be prepared by using the procedure described under i o-propyl lactate (Section 111,102). Place a mixture of 75 g. of d-tartaric acid, 10 g. of Zeo-Karb 225/H, 110 g. (136 ml.) of redistilled n-butyl alcohol and 150 ml. of sodium-dried benzene in a 1-litre three-necked flask equipped with a mercury-sealed stirrer, a double surface condenser and an automatic water separator (see Fig. Ill, 126,1). Reflux the mixture with stirring for 10 hours about 21 ml. of water collect in the water separator. FUter off the ion-exchange resin at the pump and wash it with two 30-40 ml. portions of hot benzene. Wash the combined filtrate and washings with two 75 ml. portions of saturated sodium bicarbonate solution, followed by lOu ml. of water, and dry over anhydrous magnesium sulphate. Remove the benzene by distillation under reduced pressure (water pump) and finally distil the residue. Collect the di-n-butyl d-tartrate at 150°/1 5 mm. The yield is 90 g. 

Pyruvic acid is conveniently prepared by the distillation of tartaric acid with a dehydrating agent, such as potassium bisulphate ... 

Supplement (combined with Volume IV) III, 2nd 1929 195-449 Hydroxy-carboxylic acids Carbonic acid, 3. GlycoUic acid, 228. Lactic acid, 261. Tartaric acid, 481. Citric acid, 556. Urea, 42. Cyanamide, 74. Thiocyemic acid, 140. 

A useful catalyst for asymmetric aldol additions is prepared in situ from mono-0> 2,6-diisopropoxybenzoyl)tartaric acid and BH3 -THF complex in propionitrile solution at 0 C. Aldol reactions of ketone enol silyl ethers with aldehydes were promoted by 20 mol % of this catalyst solution. The relative stereochemistry of the major adducts was assigned as Fischer- /ir o, and predominant /i -face attack of enol ethers at the aldehyde carbonyl carbon atom was found with the (/ ,/ ) nantiomer of the tartaric acid catalyst (K. Furuta, 1991). 

Several structures of the transition state have been proposed (I. D. Williams, 1984 K. A. Jorgensen, 1987 E.J. Corey, 1990 C S. Takano, 1991). They are compatible with most data, such as the observed stereoselectivity, NMR measuiements (M.O. Finn, 1983), and X-ray structures of titanium complexes with tartaric acid derivatives (I.D. Williams, 1984). The models, e. g., Jorgensen s and Corey s, are, however, not compatible with each other. One may predict that there is no single dominant Sharpless transition state (as has been found in the similar case of the Wittig reaction see p. 29f.). 

The separation of a racemic mixture into its enantiomeric components is termed resolution The first resolution that of tartaric acid was carried out by Louis Pasteur m 1848 Tartaric acid IS a byproduct of wine making and is almost always found as its dextrorotatory 2R 3R stereoisomer shown here m a perspective drawing and m a Fischer projection... 

There are two other stereoisomeric tartaric acids Write their Fis... 

Occasionally an optically inactive sample of tartaric acid was obtained Pasteur noticed that the sodium ammonium salt of optically inactive tartaric acid was a mixture of two mirror image crystal forms With microscope and tweezers Pasteur carefully sep arated the two He found that one kind of crystal (m aqueous solution) was dextrorota tory whereas the mirror image crystals rotated the plane of polarized light an equal amount but were levorotatory... 

Although Pasteur was unable to provide a structural explanation—that had to wait for van t Hoff and Le Bel a quarter of a century later—he correctly deduced that the enantiomeric quality of the crystals was the result of enantiomeric molecules The rare form of tartanc acid was optically inactive because it contained equal amounts of (+) tartaric acid and (—) tartaric acid It had earlier been called racemic acid (from Latin racemus meaning a bunch of grapes ) a name that subsequently gave rise to our pres ent term for an equal mixture of enantiomers... 

Could the unusual optically inactive form of tartaric acid stud... 

Multiple Chiral Centers. The number of stereoisomers increases rapidly with an increase in the number of chiral centers in a molecule. A molecule possessing two chiral atoms should have four optical isomers, that is, four structures consisting of two pairs of enantiomers. However, if a compound has two chiral centers but both centers have the same four substituents attached, the total number of isomers is three rather than four. One isomer of such a compound is not chiral because it is identical with its mirror image it has an internal mirror plane. This is an example of a diaster-eomer. The achiral structure is denoted as a meso compound. Diastereomers have different physical and chemical properties from the optically active enantiomers. Recognition of a plane of symmetry is usually the easiest way to detect a meso compound. The stereoisomers of tartaric acid are examples of compounds with multiple chiral centers (see Fig. 1.14), and one of its isomers is a meso compound. 

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