mutarotation
Sign in to saveIn stereochemistry, mutarotation is the change in optical rotation of a chiral material in a solution due to a change in proportion of the two constituent anomers (i.e. the interconversion of their respective stereocenters) until equilibrium is reached. Cyclic sugars show mutarotation as α and β anomeric forms interconvert. The optical rotation of the solution depends on the optical rotation of each anomer and their ratio in the solution.
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In stereochemistry, mutarotation is the change in optical rotation of a chiral material in a solution due to a change in proportion of the two constituent anomers (i.e. the interconversion of their respective stereocenters) until equilibrium is reached. Cyclic sugars show mutarotation as α and β anomeric forms interconvert. The optical rotation of the solution depends on the optical rotation of each anomer and their ratio in the solution.
Mutarotation was discovered by French chemist Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut in 1844, when he noticed that the specific rotation of aqueous sugar solution changes with time.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “mutarotation” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.