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| Specification of Configuration of Compounds with more than one Chiral Centre |
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| Specification of configuration of compounds with more than on chiral carbon such as tartaric acid can be done by |
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| a) Specifying the configuration about each of the chiral carbons and |
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| b) Numbering the chain of carbon atoms present to easily denote which configuration refers to which carbon. |
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| For (-) tartaric acid, the sequence of groups attached to the chiral carbons are OH, CHOH, COOH.COOH and H. By making the necessary double interchange of substituents the configuration for both the carbons are specified. |
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| Therefore (-) tartaric acid is S,S tartaric acid. |
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