12 Facts About Tartaric acid

The Tartaric acid itself is added to foods as an antioxidant E334 and to impart its distinctive sour taste.

Naturally occurring tartaric acid is a useful raw material in organic chemical synthesis.

Tartaric acid is an alpha-hydroxy-carboxylic acid, is diprotic and aldaric in acid characteristics, and is a dihydroxyl derivative of succinic acid.

Tartaric acid played an important role in the discovery of chemical chirality.

Racemic tartaric acid can be prepared in a multistep reaction from maleic acid.

Meso-Tartaric acid can be separated from residual racemic acid by crystallization, the racemate being less soluble.

Important derivatives of tartaric acid include its salts, cream of tartar, Rochelle salt, and tartar emetic .

Tartaric acid is a muscle toxin, which works by inhibiting the production of malic acid, and in high doses causes paralysis and death.

Tartaric acid plays an important role chemically, lowering the pH of fermenting "must" to a level where many undesirable spoilage bacteria cannot live, and acting as a preservative after fermentation.

The potassium antimonyl derivative of the Tartaric acid known as tartar emetic is included, in small doses, in cough syrup as an expectorant.

The Tartaric acid has been observed to chelate metal ions such as calcium and magnesium.

Therefore, the Tartaric acid has served in the farming and metal industries as a chelating agent for complexing micronutrients in soil fertilizer and for cleaning metal surfaces consisting of aluminium, copper, iron, and alloys of these metals, respectively.