Racemic

This week’s word of the week is: Racemic!!

Racemic (rə-si-mɪk), is an adjective that means composed of dextrorotatory and levorotatory forms of a compound in equal proportion. This means it is pertaining to a racemate, or in other words, a mixture that has equal amounts of left- and right-handed enantiomers of a chiral molecule (which is a molecule that when mirrored, doesn’t look the same as the original model of the molecule) or salt.

The word “racemic” comes from the suffix -ic which makes it an adjective, and the French word Racémique, meaning deriving from grape juice, or originally when Louis Pasteur invented the word, tartaric acid. In conclusion (Ms. T don’t get mad), racemic is an interesting word in chemistry. While you may never use it, it’s a useful word to make yourself look and seem more intelligent.

🎊WORD OF THE WEEK🎊