Exept that's not what "racemic" means. All racemic means is "50/50 L and R", not "L and R spontaneously flip". Actually, that flip is pretty much impossible without something there to catalyse the reaction.
But it's normal to get a pure L or R isomer or a racemic mix, depending how you produce it. And it's quite likely, similar to what you assert, that when they produced commercial quantities one of the production steps contained a catalyst that converted from "all L" to "racemic mix". Which they wouldn't have picked up unless they were actively looking for it.
Posted Feb 10, 2012 13:41 UTC (Fri) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523)
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>Exept that's not what "racemic" means. All racemic means is "50/50 L and R", not "L and R spontaneously flip". Actually, that flip is pretty much impossible without something there to catalyse the reaction.
Posted Feb 13, 2012 11:54 UTC (Mon) by nye (guest, #51576)
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>Exept that's not what "racemic" means. All racemic means is "50/50 L and R", not "L and R spontaneously flip". Actually, that flip is pretty much impossible without something there to catalyse the reaction.
I think it's quite common for enantiomers to flip. For example, get some fresh caraway, and note that it smells *very slightly* like spearmint. Then leave it in a jar for a year or two, and note that it now smells rather *strongly* of spearmint as some of the s-carvone has become r-carvone.
Most patents are drag on the innovation
Posted Feb 13, 2012 11:55 UTC (Mon) by nye (guest, #51576)
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And now I notice somebody else has posted the same link. That's what I get for not refreshing the page after the weekend.