Vitamin C (including the GLO enzyme), or start with inositol and get to ascorbic acid via L-galactonic acid to L-galactonolactone. Ascorbic acid is a common enzymatic cofactor in mammals used in the synthesis of collagen, as well as a powerful reducing agent capable of rapidly scavenging a number of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Given that ascorbate has these important functions, it is surprising that the ability to synthesize this molecule has not always been conserved. In fact, anthropoid primates, "Cavia porcellus" (guinea pigs), teleost fishes, most bats, and some Passeriform birds have all independently lost the ability to internally synthesize Vitamin C
Chemistry of ascorbic acid acid. American and Chinese researchers are competing to engineer a mutant that can carry out a one-pot fermentation directly from glucose to 2-KGA, bypassing both the need for a second fermentation and the need to reduce glucose to sorbitol. There exists a -ascorbic acid, which does not occur in nature but can be synthesized artificially. To be specific, -ascorbate is known to participate in many specific enzyme reactions that require the correct enantiomer (-ascorbate and not -ascorbate). -Ascorbic acid has a specific rotation of [α] = +23°. The traditional way to analyze the ascorbic acid content is the process of