racemic

In chemistry, a racemic mixture, or racemate, is one that has equal amounts of left- and right-handed enantiomers of a chiral molecule. The first known racemic mixture was "racemic acid," which Louis Pasteur found to be a mixture of the two enantiomeric isomers of tartaric acid.

Properties

A racemate is optically inactive, meaning that there is no net rotation of plane-polarized light. Although the two enantiomers rotate plane-polarized light in opposite directions, because they are present in equal amounts, the rotations cancel.

In contrast to the two pure enantiomers, which have identical physical properties except for the direction of rotation of plane-polarized light, a racemate often has different properties from either of the pure enantiomers. Different melting points and solubilities are very common, but different boiling points are also possible.

Pharmaceuticals may be available as a racemate or as the pure enantiomer, which might have different potencies.

Crystallization

There are four ways in which a racemate can crystallize, three of which H. W. B. Roozeboom had distinguished by 1899:

• Conglomerate (sometimes racemic mixture or racemic conglomerate)

A mechanical mixture of enantiomerically pure crystals of one enantiomer and its opposite. Molecules in the crystal structure have a greater affinity for the same enantiomer than for the opposite enantiomer. The melting point of the racemic conglomerate is always lower than that of the pure enantiomer. Addition of a small amount of one enantiomer to the conglomerate increases the melting point.

• Racemic compound (sometimes true racemate)

Molecules have a greater affinity for the opposite enantiomer than for the same enantiomer; the substance forms a single crystalline phase in which the two enantiomers are present in an ordered 1:1 ratio in the elementary cell. Adding a small amount of one enantiomer to the racemic compound decreases the melting point. But the pure enantiomer can have a higher or lower melting point than the compound.

• Pseudoracemate (sometimes racemic solid solution)

In contrast to the racemic compound or conglomerate, there is no big difference in affinity between the same and opposite enantiomers. Overall, both enantiomers occur in equal proportions in the crystal, but they coexist in an unordered manner in the crystal lattice. Addition of a small amount of one enantiomer changes the melting point just little bit or not at all.

• Quasiracemate

A quasiracemate is a mixture of two similar but distinct compounds, one of which is left-handed and the other right-handed. Although chemically different, they are sterically similar (isosteric) and are still able to form a racemic crystalline phase. One of the first such racemates studied, by Pasteur in 1853, forms from a 1:2 mixture of the bis ammonium salt of (+)-tartaric acid and the bis ammonium salt of (-)-malic acid in water. Re-investigated in 2008, ^[1], the crystals formed are dumbbell-shape with the central part consisting of ammonium (+)-bitartrate, whereas the outer parts are a quasiracemic mixture of ammonium (+)-bitartrate and ammonium (-)-bimalate.

Resolution

The separation of a racemate into its components, the pure enantiomers, is called a chiral resolution. There are various methods, including crystallization, chromatography, and the use of enzymes. The first successful resolution of a racemate was performed by Louis Pasteur, who manually separated the crystals of a conglomerate.

Synthesis

Without a chiral influence (for example a chiral catalyst, solvent or starting material), a chemical reaction that makes a chiral product will always yield a racemate. That can make the synthesis of a racemate cheaper and easier than making the pure enantiomer, because it does not require special conditions. This fact also leads to the question of how biological homochirality evolved on a presumably racemic primordial earth.

The reagents of, and the reactions that produce, racemic mixtures are said to be "not stereospecific" or "not stereoselective," for their indecision in a particular stereoisomerism.

Racemic pharmaceuticals

Some drug molecules are chiral, and the enantiomers have different effects on biological entities. They can be sold as one enantiomer or as a racemic mixture. Examples include thalidomide, ibuprofen, and salbutamol. Adderall is a mixture of several different amphetamine enantiomers. A single amphetamine dose combines the neutral sulfate salts of dextroamphetamine and amphetamine, with the dextro isomer of amphetamine saccharate and D/L-amphetamine aspartate monohydrate. The prescription analgesic tramadol is also a racemate.

In some cases (e.g., ibuprofen and thalidomide), the enantiomers are interconverted in vivo. This means that preparing a pure enantiomer for medication is largely pointless.

In cases like salbutamol and thalidomide, the inactive isomer may be harmful.

Methamphetamine is available by prescription under the brand name Desoxyn. The active component of Desoxyn is dextromethamphetamine hydrochloride. This is the right-hand isomer of methamphetamine. The left-handed isomer of methamphetamine, levomethamphetamine, is an OTC drug that is less centrally-acting and more peripherally-acting.

In the chemical name, a D/L- prefix indicates that both the levo & dextro isomers are contained in the product to some unspecified degree. Whereas a DL- prefix with no slash mark indicates that both levo & dextro isomers of the molecule are present in an equal 1:1 ratio, with 50% of each.

See also

• Chirality
• Handedness

• Optical isomerism
• Racemization

References