Title: optical yield
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - optical yield
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.O04315
Status: current

Definition
In a chemical reaction involving chiral reactants and products, the ratio of the optical purity of the product to that of the precursor, reactant or catalyst. This should not be confused with enantiomeric excess. The optical yield is in no way related to the chemical yield of the reaction.

Related Terms
- catalyst: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C00876
- chemical reaction: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C01033
- chemical yield: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C01041
- chiral: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C01057
- enantiomeric excess: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/E02070
- optical purity: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/O04310
- stereoselectivity: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/S05991

Sources
- PAC, 1994, 66, 1077. 'Glossary of terms used in physical organic chemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1994)' on page 1146 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199466051077)
- PAC, 1996, 68, 2193. 'Basic terminology of stereochemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1996)' on page 2212 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199668122193)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/O04315/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/O04315/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/O04315/xml

Citation: Citation: 'optical yield' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.O04315
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Accessed: 2026-06-10T10:08:33+00:00