The optical rotation of a solution of sucrose in water was first measured by Biot (Mém., 1819, ii, 41) in 1819. He introduced the term “optical saccharimetry” for the method of estimation of sugar by measurement of its optical rotation.

In 1846, Dubrunfaut (Ann. Chim. Phys., 1846, xviii, 99) observed that the specific rotation of a freshly prepared aqueous solution of glucose decreased from an initial value of about + 110° to a constant value of +52°. The initial value being approximately double the constant value, he called the phenomenon “bi-rotation.” This term proved unsuitable in the case of other substances where a similar change of rotation took place, the initial and final values being rarely in the proportion of 2: 1; hence the expression “multi-rotation” came into use.