DL-Tartaric Acid CAS:133-37-9‌‌

DL-Tartaric acid is a white, crystalline organic acid that occurs naturally in many fruits, especially in grapes, also in bananas, tamarinds, and citrus. Its biggest use is as a beverage additive. This DL-Tartaric acid can be added to foods to give them a sour taste. It is also an important reducing agent, can control the formation rate of the silver mirror, obtain a very uniform coating.

DL-Tartaric acid is a racemic mixture composed of equal parts of dextrorotatory and levorotatory tartaric acid. Its defining characteristic is that it retains the full acidic properties of tartaric acid while being optically inactive. As the most economically scalable variety in the tartaric acid family, it serves as the fundamental raw material for manufacturing various tartrate salts. In the food industry, it functions as an acidulant and beer foaming agent-providing a clean sour taste while stabilizing foam. In chemical synthesis, it acts as the starting point for producing other tartrate derivatives. This combination of affordability and versatility makes it the most widely used foundational ingredient in the tartaric acid family.

The DL-Tartaric acid is used in the farming and metal industries as a chelating agent for complex micronutrients in soil fertilizer and for cleaning metal surfaces consisting of aluminum, copper, iron, and alloys of these metals, respectively. It is also an important additive and reducing agent in the mirror making industry.