Hey all, thought I'd add my $0.02 to the enantiomer debate. DVap is right, as far as I know. A non-natural stereo isomer is going to be a PITA to synthesize pure. Generally to save money it is the racemic mixture, like cheapo Vitamin E.
Drew, I'm not sure where you are getting this information, but I do not think it is true, from a purely economical standpoint. Synthesis would economically favor a racemic mixture vastly over a non-natural enantio-pure product. The reagents needed for asymmetric synthesis, which would be required, are not cheap at all, and the process is rarely 100% enantio-pure. Chiral separation is a pain, and for what? To get a form that is not absorbed well and doesn't have as strong of a neurological response, when simple acid-base extraction is cheap, easy (for a lab, folks), and gives the form of nic that everyone wants.
More importantly, d-nic is NOT physiologically the same as l-nic. Biologically it is a different compound, with similar affects, but probably a lot of other less obvious effects that in the long term might be a problem.
Here is an example playing out now in the vitamin world. Natural vitamin E is an enantiomer. But its not as easy to extract and purify as it is to synthesize the racemic mixture of both enantiomers. Thus cheap CVS Vit-E is a racemic mixture, only half of which is the correct enantiomer. The problem is the other enantiomer is not just less beneficial as the natural one, it may well be a cardio-toxin! Studies are actually showing this.
If, and this is a big if, there are companies selling d-nic, then they have more of a problem than just selling something that doesn't work as well as l-nic, since it is not derived from tobacco, given this recent ruling, the FDA could and IMO should ban it entirely. It is a different compound physiologically than tobacco-based nic. They might as well be selling amphetamine.
If you can, Drew, or DVap, or any other chemist here (I don't have access to or money to buy a stereoscope), measure the optical rotation of nic in various unflavored juices. Only the nic should rotate the light at all. They are not expensive, and the light source can be a simple desk lamp. The specfic rotation is [α]D = 166.4°. but I forget the concentration standard. If there are d-nics out there, I want to know who those companies are, so I can contact them, as if it turns out I'm not vaping l-nic, I'm going to be really ...... off. And those companies should be taken to court for dangerously misleading the customers. And no federal court ruling will help them, as it is not the correct compound, plain and simple.
