3-hydroxypropionic acid 3-hydroxypropionic acid 3-hydroxypropionic acid is a carboxylic acid, specifically a beta hydroxy acid. it is an acidic viscous liquid with a pka of 4.5. it is very soluble in water, soluble in ethanol and diethyl ether. upon distillation, it dehydrates to form acrylic acid, and is occasionally called hydracrylic acid 3-hydroxypropionic acid names preferred iupac name 3-hydroxypropanoic acid other names 3-hydroxypropionic acidhydracrylic acidethylene lactic acid identifiers cas number 503-66-2 y 3d model (jsmol) interactive image 3dmet b00221 beilstein reference 773806 chebi chebi:33404 y chembl chembl1205969 chemspider 61460 y drugbank db03688 y echa infocard 100.007.250 ec number 207-974-8 kegg c01013 y pubchem cid 68152 unii c4zf6xld2x comptox dashboard (epa) dtxsid50198305 inchi inchi=1s/c3h6o3/c4-2-1-3(5)6/h4h,1-2h2,(h,5,6) ykey: alrhlsyjtwahjz-uhfffaoysa-n yinchi=1/c3h6o3/c4-2-1-3(5)6/h4h,1-2h2,(h,5,6)key: alrhlsyjtwahjz-uhfffaoyau smiles o=c(o)cco properties chemical formula c3h6o3 molar mass 90.08 g/mol melting point <25 °c143 °c (sodium salt) boiling point decomposes solubility in water very soluble acidity (pka) 4.87 related compounds related carboxylic acids acetic acidglycolic acidpropionic acidlactic acidmalonic acidbutyric acidhydroxybutyric acid related compounds 1-propanol2-propanolpropionaldehydeacrolein except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °c , 100 kpa). y verify (what is yn ?) infobox references 3-hydroxypropionic acid is used in the industrial production of various chemicals such as acrylates. synthesis 3-hydroxypropionic acid can be obtained by base-induced hydration of acrylic acid followed by reacidification. another synthesis involves cyanation of ethylene chlorohydrin followed by hydrolysis of the resulting nitrile. hydrolysis of propiolactone is yet another route. potential applications the polyester poly(3-hydroxypropionic acid) is a biodegradable polymer. the method combines the high-molecular weight and control aspects of ring-opening polymerization with the commercial availability of the beta hydroxy acid, 3-hydroxypropionic acid which is abbreviated as 3-hp. since 3-hpa can be derived from biological sources, the resulting material, poly(3-hydroxypropionic acid) or p(3-hpa), is biorenewable. genetically encoded 3-hydroxypropionic acid inducible system 3-hydroxypropionic acid can be produced by engineered microbes. a genetically encoded 3-hydroxypropionic acid inducible system has been characterized in bacteria demonstrating that such system in combination with fluorescent reporter protein can be utilized as a biosensor to measure intracellular and extracellular 3-hp concentrations by fluorescence output.