<unk>  is a white crystalline organic acid. It occurs naturally in many plants, particularly grapes, bananas, and<unk> marinds, and is one of the main acids found in wine. It is added to other foods to give a sour<unk> ste, and is used as an antioxidant. Salts of<unk>  are known as<unk> rtrates. It is a dihydroxy derivative of dicarboxylic acid.<unk>  was first isolated from potassium<unk> rtrate, known to the ancients as<unk> rtar, c. 800 by the Persian alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan, who was also responsible for numerous other basic chemical processes still in use today. The modern process was developed in 1769 by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.  The chirality of<unk>  was discovered in 1832 by Jean Baptiste Biot, who observed its ability to rotate polarized light.  Louis Pasteur continued this research in 1847 by investigating the shapes of<unk>  crystals, which he found to be asymmetric.  Pasteur was the first to produce a pure sample of levotartaric acid.
Tartaric acid
Stearic acid
Cyanic acid
Maleic acid
Oleic acid
Meglutol
Malic acid
Azelaic acid