Abstract
SINCE the simple salts of optical antipodes d+X′ and l+X′ have equal solubilities, it follows that the activity products are equal, and hence ad+ = al+ in the saturated solutions. Electrolytes such as sodium nitrate change the activities of both enantiomeric ions to the same extent. A number of observations, to be published shortly, have led us to the conclusion that a specific effect can be exerted on one enantiomeric ion by the addition of an electrolyte containing an optically active anion or cation. As a result, in such solutions, ad+ ≠ al+, and a number of interesting consequences follow, such as the possibility of carrying out a resolution without the discrete separation of diastereoisomerides, and the movement of the position of equilibrium in an optically labile system. We have named this phenomenon tentatively ‘configurational activity’.
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DWYER, F., GYARFAS, E. & O'DWYER, M. Configurational Activity. Nature 167, 1036 (1951). https://doi.org/10.1038/1671036a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1671036a0
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