Question

Organic chemistry:

an attempt at synthesizing a certain optically active compound resulted in a mixture of its enantiomers. The mixture had an observed specific rotation of 11.0 degrees. If it is known that the specific rotation of the R enantiomer is -33.6 degrees, determine the percent of each enantiomer in the mixture.

So i have the equation set up:

11= x(-33.6) +(1-x)(spec. rot of S)
but how do i solve for x when the specific rotation of S is unknown?

Answer 1

If the R enantiomer is -33.6, then the S enantiomer must be + 33.6? right?

Answer 2

Yes! S enantiomer would be +33.6