pimelic acid pimelic acid pimelic acid is the organic compound with the formula ho2c(ch2)5co2h. pimelic acid is one ch2 unit longer than a related dicarboxylic acid, adipic acid, a precursor to many polyesters and polyamides. however compared to adipic acid, pimelic acid is relatively small in importance industrially. derivatives of pimelic acid are involved in the biosynthesis of the amino acid lysine and the vitamin biotin. pimelic acid names preferred iupac name heptanedioic acid identifiers cas number 111-16-0 y 3d model (jsmol) interactive image chebi chebi:30531 n chemspider 376 n drugbank db01856 n echa infocard 100.003.492 ec number 203-840-8 pubchem cid 385 unii bzq96wx25f y comptox dashboard (epa) dtxsid5021598 inchi inchi=1s/c7h12o4/c8-6(9)4-2-1-3-5-7(10)11/h1-5h2,(h,8,9)(h,10,11) nkey: wljvntcwhirura-uhfffaoysa-n ninchi=1/c7h12o4/c8-6(9)4-2-1-3-5-7(10)11/h1-5h2,(h,8,9)(h,10,11)key: wljvntcwhirura-uhfffaoyar smiles oc(=o)cccccc(=o)o properties chemical formula c7h12o4 molar mass 160.17 g/mol appearance colorless or white solid density 1.28 g/cm3 melting point 103 to 105 °c (217 to 221 °f; 376 to 378 k) boiling point decomposes acidity (pka) 4.71 pka2 = 5.58 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 synthesis biosynthesis the biosynthesis of pimelic acid is unknown but is speculated to start with malonyl coa. chemical and industrial routes like other simple dicarboxylic acids, many methods have been developed for producing pimelic acid. pimelic acid is produced commercially by oxidation of cycloheptanone with dinitrogen tetroxide. other routes include the relatively unselective oxidation of palmitic acid and the carbonylation of caprolactone. niche methods many other methods exist. pimelic acid has been synthesized from cyclohexanone and from salicylic acid. in the former route, the additional carbon is supplied by dimethyloxalate, which reacts with the enolate. in other syntheses, pimelic acid is made from cyclohexene-4-carboxylic acid, and a fourth method also exists based on the 1,4 reaction of malonate systems with acrolein. several patents exist for the production of pimelic acid.