Separation and Analysis of a Commercial Pharmaceutical.

3 tablets of ca. 200 mg each were crushed (pestle and mortar) to form a fine microcrystalline powder. The powder was stirred vigorously for 30 minutes with a mixture of CH2Cl2 (25 ml) and 2.0 M KOH (20 ml). This resulted in a white suspension of the powder in the aqueous phase. The organic phase was separated and the aqueous phase further extracted with CH2Cl2 (25 ml). The combined organic extracts were dried (MgSO4), filtered and evaporated. The resultant cream-white solid was re-crystallised (twice) from boiling hexane (1-2 ml) containing a few drops of CH2Cl2. This afforded white feathery needles which were dried in vacuo.

Conventional modern analytical techniques were employed to identify the pharmaceutical.

The compound is sold as a single isomer - you should be able to determine the relative and absolute stereochemistry from the analytical data and by consulting the literature.