Made from crude tartar; a laxative and refrigerant; used in the manufacture of various effervescing powders, tablets, and granules.
* * *
tar·tar·ic acid (.)tär-.tar-ik- n a strong dicarboxylic acid C4H6O6 of plant origin that occurs in three optically isomeric crystalline forms esp a dextrorotatory L-form of tartaric acid that is widely distributed in plants and esp. in fruits (as grapes) both free and combined as salts and that is used chiefly in effervescent beverages and pharmaceutical preparations, in desserts and candies, in photography, in making salts and esters, and as a sequestering agent
* * *
tar·tar·ic ac·id (tahr-tarґik) 2,3-dihydroxybutanedioic acid, a dicarboxylic acid; its salts (tartrates) are used in food preparation (cream of tartar) and have been used as cathartics. Tartaric acid has two asymmetric carbon atoms and has three structural isomers: two enantiomers, d- and l-tartaric acid, and one meso compound, meso-tartaric acid, which is a diastereomer of the other two.Medical dictionary. 2011.