3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (dopac) is a metabolite of the neurotransmitter dopamine. dopamine can be metabolized into one of three substances. one such substance is dopac. another is 3-methoxytyramine (3-mt). both of these substances are degraded to form homovanillic acid (hva). both degradations involve the enzymes monoamine oxidase (mao) and catechol-o-methyl transferase (comt), albeit in reverse order: mao catalyzes dopamine to dopac, and comt catalyzes dopac to hva; whereas comt catalyzes dopamine to 3-mt and mao catalyzes 3-mt to hva. the third metabolic end-product of dopamine is norepinephrine (noradrenaline). 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid names preferred iupac name (3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)acetic acid other names 2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)acetic acid identifiers cas number 102-32-9 y 3d model (jsmol) interactive image chebi chebi:41941 y chembl chembl1284 y chemspider 532 y drugbank db01702 y echa infocard 100.002.750 kegg c01161 y mesh 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic+acid pubchem cid 547 unii kex5n0r4n5 n comptox dashboard (epa) dtxsid9074430 inchi inchi=1s/c8h8o4/c9-6-2-1-5(3-7(6)10)4-8(11)12/h1-3,9-10h,4h2,(h,11,12) ykey: cffzdzcdufsofz-uhfffaoysa-n yinchi=1/c8h8o4/c9-6-2-1-5(3-7(6)10)4-8(11)12/h1-3,9-10h,4h2,(h,11,12)key: cffzdzcdufsofz-uhfffaoyau smiles o=c(o)cc1cc(o)c(o)cc1 properties chemical formula c8h8o4 molar mass 168.148 g·mol−1 except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °c , 100 kpa). n verify (what is yn ?) infobox references dopac can be oxidized by hydrogen peroxide, leading to the formation of toxic metabolites which destroy dopamine storage vesicles in the substantia nigra. this may contribute to the failure of levodopa treatment of parkinson's disease. a mao-b inhibitor such as selegiline or rasagiline can prevent this from happening. biodegradation of dopamine it can also be found in the bark of eucalyptus globulus. this product has been synthesized (52% yield) from 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid via aerobic biotransformation using whole cell cultures of arthrobacter protophormiae.