Lactic acid
group of stereoisomers
Lactic acid is an organic acid with the molecular formula C3H6O3. In its solid state, it is white and in its liquid state is miscible with water. When dissolved, it forms a colorless solution. Production includes both artificial synthesis and natural sources. Lactic acid is an alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA) due to the presence of a hydroxyl group adjacent to the carboxyl group. It is a synthetic intermediate in many organic synthesis industries and in various biochemical industries. The conjugate base of lactic acid is called lactate (or the lactate anion). The name of the derived acyl group is lactoyl.
Lactic acid is chiral, consisting of two enantiomers. One is known as L-lactic acid, (S)-lactic acid, or (+)-lactic acid, and the other, its mirror image, is D-lactic acid, (R)-lactic acid, or (−)-lactic acid.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q161249. The Library of Congress control number is sh85073866. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lactic acid” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.