[jeffmoonchop]

Hi I've come across a paper by Lorenz et al. who stated, along with others that the racemate of mandelic acid is much more soluble in water than the enantiomerically pure (+) form.

Could anyone offer an explanation as to why the racemate would be so much more soluble?

My thoughts are that cocrystals can often have different solubilities, perhaps the enantiopure form is easier to order into a lattice than a mixture. Low energy barriers to form the pure crystals, whereas the racemate may be the thermodynamic product, hard to organise, more stable.

While we're here would you classify a racemate crystal as a cocrystal?

cheers