Optical purity

Chemistry Level 3

A sample of (S)-(+)-lactic acid was found to have an optical purity of 72%. How much R isomer (in percent) is present in the sample?


The answer is 14.

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3 solutions

Abhishek Singh
Nov 19, 2014

14% of R racemise the 14% of S leaving 72% as it is !

Resa Gusman
Nov 24, 2015

%EE = 72 % S (+)
Racemic = 100 -72 = 28 % (50:50 mixture of enantiomers) ½ Racemic is S(+) lactic acid and ½ Racemic is R(-)-lactic acid. Total S (+) = 72 + 14 = 86% Total R (-) = 14

An optical purity of 72 % 72\% means that S-isomer is 72 % 72\% in excess of R-isomer, therefore, the remaining ( 100 % 72 % = ) 28 % (100\%-72\%=) 28\% of the mixture is evenly shared by R- and S-isomer. This means that R-isomer is ( 28 % / 2 = ) 14 % (28\%/2 =) \boxed{14\%} .

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