Animal oleic acid

Oleic acid It is used in making soap, lubricant, flotation agent,

ointment and oleate etc

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Polarimetry

CAS 112-80-1
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What is polarimetry?

Polarimetry in analytical chemistry is

a method for measuring the rotatory
power of a substance by the instrument
polarimeter. Many transparent non-
symmetrical optically active molecules
can rotate the plane of polarized light
or electromagnetic radiation.

The principle of polarimetry or optical

rotation depends upon various factors
such as the number of molecules in the
path of electromagnetic radiation,
concentration, length of containing
vessel, wavelength, and temperature.

The wavelength used in the polarimetry

instrumentation is specific. Commonly,
we used a sodium D line with a
wavelength of 589 nm.

Instrumentation of
polarimetry

The instrumentation of polarimetry in

a polarimeter is given below the
diagram,

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Polarimetry measures the angle of

rotation by passing polarized light
through an optically active (chiral)
substance by an instrument like a
polarimeter. Essentially, a polarimeter
contains two Nicol prisms, one is the
polarizer and the other is the analyzer.
The polarimetry instrumentation given
above the picture contains the
following components,

Unpolarized light
sources
All common sources of light obtained
from the Sun, incandescent or
fluorescent lights, and flame are
examples of unpolarized light. Natural
light obtained from different sources is
slightly polarized due to scatterings
and reflections.

In Polarimetry instrumentation, we
used monochromatic radiation from a
sodium lamp with a wavelength of 589
nm for sources of light.

Fixed or linearly
polarizer
It is a Nicol prism made of calcite. In
polarimetry, Nicol prism or fixed
polarizer converts unpolarized light to
a linearly polarized light. It can convert
a linearly polarized signal to a
circularly-polarized signal in a
clockwise or counterclockwise
direction.

Sample cell
It contains optically active molecules
for study. These optically active
molecules rotate the plane of polarized
light due to their optical activity. There
are two types of optical rotation of light
found in the sample cells.

1. When the molecule present on the

sample cell rotates the plane-
polarized light in the clockwise
direction, we called it dextrorotatory
rotation.
2. However, the molecules rotate the
light counterclockwise, we call it
levorotatory rotation.

Movable polarizer
Analyzing rotator Nicol prism also
made by calcite. The analyzing rotator
prism is fixed in such a way that it can
be rotated easily about the axis of the
incident light. It is used to measure the
rotatory power or angle of rotation of a
particular optically active compound.

Detector
The detector is a device or instrument
used to detect the presence of a
particular object or substance. In a
polarimeter instrument, we used an eye
or photoelectric cells as a detector that
detects the optical rotation of light.

Polarimetry principle

The polarimetry principle is used to

measure the optical rotation of
polarized light which passes through
optically active compounds like quartz,
sugar, etc.

The specific rotation,

[α] tD = 100α/lc
where α = observed rotation;
l = thickness of the layer in decimeters;
c = concentration of the substance

The determination is carried out at a

temperature of t °C using a sodium D
line. The specific rotation of some
optically active compounds is given
below the table,

Specific rotation
Compound [α]D20
d-glucose +52.7
d-fructose -92.4
maltose +130.4
sucrose +66.5
L-tartaric acid +14.1

Applications of
Polarimetry

Many transparent non-

symmetrical organic compounds
such as tartaric acid, sucrose, and
glucose contain stereoisomers. A
polarimetry principle in the
polarimeter can be used to identify
the isomer present in the sample.
The isomer is dextro-rotatory if it
rotates polarized light in a clockwise
direction and the isomer is Levo-
rotatory if it rotates polarized light
in a counterclockwise direction.
Many chemicals exhibit specific
types or specific values of optical
rotation. Therefore, the polarimetry
principle can be used to identify
unknown samples based on their
specific rotation.
Specific rotation data is also used
to calculate the concentration and
purity of industrial chemicals.
We used polarimetry for the
analysis of antibiotics and enzymes.
The antibiotics can be destroyed by
enzymes. Therefore, the greater the
enzyme concentration, the more the
destruction of antibiotics.
The concentration and purity of
food, beverage, and pharmaceutical
products can be done by the
polarimetry principle or
instrumentation.

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