Illustrated Glossary of Organic Chemistry

Dextrorotatory (d; (+)): A substance that rotates plane polarized light in a clockwise direction. Indicated by including (+) before the compound name, or in the older literature, d, such as (+)-nicotine or (d)-nicotine.

	Pass through (R)-(+)-nicotine solution
Plane of polarization before (R)-(+)-nicotine solution.		Plane of polarization after (R)-(+)-nicotine solution.

Passing plane-polarized light through a solution of (R)-(+)-nicotine causes the plane of polarization to be rotated to the right (a clockwise direction; as indicated by the red arrow), demonstrating that this molecule is optically active and dextrorotatory.