Another study demonstrates how racemic nicotine (mixture of S and R-enantiomers 1 in scheme 3) can be deracemized in a one-pot procedure involving a monoamine oxidase isolated from Aspergillus niger which is able to oxidize only the amine S-enantiomer to the imine 2 and involving an ammonia–borane reducing couple which can reduce the imine 2 back to the amine 1.
Racemic amphetamine was first synthesized under the chemical name "phenylisopropylamine" in Berlin, 1887 by the Romanian chemist Lazar Edeleanu.
Upon reaction with butyl nitrite, it undergoes nitrosation into the isonitrosoketone, which by reduction using hydrogen over Raney nickel turns into 1-(3-benzyloxyphenyl)-2-aminopropan-1-ol, the protecting benzyl group is removed by reduction using hydrogen over palladium catalyst, to give racemic metaraminol.
Mosher's acid contains a -CF3 group, so if the adduct has no other fluorine atoms, the 19F NMR of a racemic mixture shows just two peaks, one for each stereoisomer.