Dehydroascorbic acid neuronal injury following an ischemic stroke. The literature contains many reports on the antiviral effects of vitamin C, and one study suggests dehydroascorbic acid has stronger antiviral effects and a different mechanism of action than ascorbic acid. Solutions in water containing ascorbic acid and copper ions and/or peroxide, resulting in rapid oxidation of ascorbic acid to dehydroascorbic acid, have been shown to possess powerful but short-lived antimicrobial, antifungal, and antiviral properties, and have been used to treat gingivitis, periodontal disease, and dental plaque. A pharmaceutical product named Ascoxal is an example of such a solution used as a mouth rinse
Vitamin C had proven this, but published the result without giving Szent-Györgyi credit for it. This led to a bitter dispute over priority. In 1933, Walter Norman Haworth chemically identified the vitamin as -hexuronic acid, proving this by synthesis in 1933. Haworth and Szent-Györgyi proposed that L-hexuronic acid be named a-scorbic acid, and chemically -ascorbic acid, in honor of its activity against scurvy. The term's etymology is from Latin, "a-" meaning away, or off from, while -scorbic is from Medieval Latin "scorbuticus" (pertaining to scurvy), cognate with Old Norse "skyrbjugr", French "scorbut", Dutch "scheurbuik" and Low German "scharbock". Partly for this discovery,