What is tartaric acid

When it comes to tartaric acid, many people may have a lot of questions in their minds. Because this is generally a professional issue, most people don’t understand it, and most people will never encounter it in their lives. This is also reasonable. But sometimes we hear the name tartaric acid on certain occasions, but we may be laughed at as ignorant because of our lack of understanding, so we must continue to learn new knowledge.

Tartaric acid is an acid. In fact, many plants contain tartaric acid. For example, the grapes we often eat in summer contain a large amount of tartaric acid. But just saying this is not enough for many people to understand. So, let’s take a closer look at what tartaric acid is.

Tartaric acid, also known as 2,3-dihydroxysuccinic acid, is a carboxylic acid found in many plants, such as grapes and tamarind. It is also one of the main organic acids in wine. As an antioxidant added to food, it can give food a sour taste. The largest use of tartaric acid is as a beverage additive. It is also a raw material for the pharmaceutical industry. In the mirror industry, tartaric acid is an important auxiliary agent and reducing agent, which can control the formation speed of silver mirrors and obtain a very uniform coating.

Tartaric acid is also known as 2,3-dihydroxysuccinic acid. The structural formula is HOOCCH(OH)CH(OH)COOH. Potassium hydrogen tartrate exists in grape juice. This salt is insoluble in water and ethanol. It precipitates during the grape juice winemaking process and is called tartar, from which the name tartaric acid comes. Tartaric acid mainly exists in the form of potassium salt in many plants and fruits, and a small amount also exists in a free state.

Tartaric acid is dihydroxysuccinic acid. There are two asymmetric carbon atoms and three stereoisomers, namely: dextrorotatory (D-type, L-type), levorotatory (L-type, D-type), and meso. Usually, racemic tartaric acid is also called gluconic acid. Dextrorotatory tartaric acid is widely distributed in higher plants in the form of free or K salt, Ca salt, and Mg salt, especially in fruits and leaves. When making wine, a large amount of tartar (potassium hydroxide) is deposited. In addition, it is also commonly found in molds and lichens. The isolated tartaric acid fermenting bacteria (a variant strain of Gluconoba-cter suboxydans) oxidize glucose in the body to form tartaric acid while forming glycolic acid via 5-ketogluconic acid. Ammonium tartrate can be converted into succinic acid by microorganisms. Therefore, tartaric acid is used as a raw material for the production of succinic acid in industry. Pasteur (L. Pasteus) once used tartaric acid as a material to study the optical activity of natural substances, which is very famous in history.

The largest use of tartaric acid is as a beverage additive. Then there are raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry. Chiral ligands and chiral atoms are very important in contemporary organic synthesis. They can be used to prepare many famous chiral catalysts and as chiral sources to synthesize complex natural product molecules. Tartaric acid is also an antioxidant and is used in the food industry. It can be used as an oxygen scavenger in biochemical experiments.

Through the above detailed introduction to tartaric acid, I believe that most people now have a certain degree of understanding of tartaric acid, which is of certain benefit to us. If we need to use tartaric acid in our daily lives in the future, we will know how to use it specifically instead of being at a loss.