An attempt at synthesizing a certain optically active compound resulted in a mix

Question

An attempt at synthesizing a certain optically active compound resulted in a mixture of its enantiomers. The mixture had an observed specific rotation of 14.2°. If it is known that the specific rotation of the R enantiomer is –35.2°, determine the percentage of each isomer in the mixture.

An attempt at synthesizing a certain optically active compound resulted in a mixture of its enantiomers. The mixture had an observed specific rotation of +14.2. If it is known that the specific rotation of the R enantiomer is-35.20, determine the percentage of each isomer in the mixture. Number R enantiomer: Number S enantiomer:

Explanation / Answer

specific rotation of R = –35.2°
specific rotation of S = + 35.2°

let x = % R

% S = 100-x

- 35.2° x + 35.2°( 100 -x)/100= 14.2°

- 35.2 x + 3520 - 35.2 x = 1420

- 70.4 x = - 2100

x = 29.83 %

R- enantiomer = 29.83 %

y = 70.17 %

S - enantiomer = 70.17 %

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