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2-Hydroxy-4-(methylthio)butyric Acid
2-Hydroxy-4-(methylthio)butyric acid is an organic compound with the structural formula CH3SCH2CH2CH(OH)CO2H. It is a white solid. In terms of functional groups, the molecule is a Alpha hydroxy acid, α-hydroxy carboxylic acid and a thioether. The compound is structurally related to the amino acid methionine by replacement of the amine with a hydroxy group. The compound is produced commercially in racemic form from acrolein by conjugate addition of methanethiol followed by formation and hydrolysis of a cyanohydrin. it is used as a substitute for methionine in animal feed. In nature, the compound is also an intermediate in the biosynthesis of Dimethylsulfoniopropionate, 3-dimethylsulfoniopropionate, precursor to natural dimethyl sulfide. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Hydroxy-4-(methylthio)butyric acid, 2- Alpha hydroxy acids Thioethers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Organic Compound
In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. The study of the properties, reactions, and syntheses of organic compounds comprise the discipline known as organic chemistry. For historical reasons, a few classes of carbon-containing compounds (e.g., carbonate salts and cyanide salts), along with a few other exceptions (e.g., carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide), are not classified as organic compounds and are considered inorganic. Other than those just named, little consensus exists among chemists on precisely which carbon-containing compounds are excluded, making any rigorous definition of an organic compound elusive. Although organic compounds make up only a small percentage of Earth's crust, they are of central importance because all known life is based on organic compounds. Living t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Functional Group
In organic chemistry, a functional group is a substituent or moiety in a molecule that causes the molecule's characteristic chemical reactions. The same functional group will undergo the same or similar chemical reactions regardless of the rest of the molecule's composition. This enables systematic prediction of chemical reactions and behavior of chemical compounds and the design of chemical synthesis. The reactivity of a functional group can be modified by other functional groups nearby. Functional group interconversion can be used in retrosynthetic analysis to plan organic synthesis. A functional group is a group of atoms in a molecule with distinctive chemical properties, regardless of the other atoms in the molecule. The atoms in a functional group are linked to each other and to the rest of the molecule by covalent bonds. For repeating units of polymers, functional groups attach to their nonpolar core of carbon atoms and thus add chemical character to carbon chains. Fun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alpha Hydroxy Acid
α-Hydroxy acids, or alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs), are a class of chemical compounds that consist of a carboxylic acid with a hydroxyl group substituent on the adjacent (alpha) carbon. Prominent examples are glycolic acid, lactic acid, mandelic acid and citric acid. Although these compounds are related to the ordinary carboxylic acids and are therefore weak acids, their chemical structure allows for the formation of an internal hydrogen bond between the hydrogen at the hydroxyl group and one of the oxygen atoms of the carboxylic group. The net effect is an increase in acidity. For example, the pKa of lactic acid is 3.86, while that of the unsubstituted propionic acid is 4.87; a full pKa unit difference means that lactic acid is ten times stronger than propionic acid. Industrial applications Feed additives 2-Hydroxy-4-(methylthio)butyric acid is produced commercially as a racemic mixture to substitute for methionine in animal feed. In nature, the same compound is an intermediat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thioether
In organic chemistry, an organic sulfide (British English sulphide) or thioether is an organosulfur functional group with the connectivity as shown on right. Like many other sulfur-containing compounds, volatile sulfides have foul odors. A sulfide is similar to an ether except that it contains a sulfur atom in place of the oxygen. The grouping of oxygen and sulfur in the periodic table suggests that the chemical properties of ethers and sulfides are somewhat similar, though the extent to which this is true in practice varies depending on the application. Nomenclature Sulfides are sometimes called thioethers, especially in the old literature. The two organic substituents are indicated by the prefixes. (CH3)2S is called dimethylsulfide. Some sulfides are named by modifying the common name for the corresponding ether. For example, C6H5SCH3 is methyl phenyl sulfide, but is more commonly called thioanisole, since its structure is related to that for anisole, C6H5OCH3. The modern sy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amino Acid
Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha amino acids appear in the genetic code. Amino acids can be classified according to the locations of the core structural functional groups, as Alpha and beta carbon, alpha- , beta- , gamma- or delta- amino acids; other categories relate to Chemical polarity, polarity, ionization, and side chain group type (aliphatic, Open-chain compound, acyclic, aromatic, containing hydroxyl or sulfur, etc.). In the form of proteins, amino acid '' residues'' form the second-largest component (water being the largest) of human muscles and other tissues. Beyond their role as residues in proteins, amino acids participate in a number of processes such as neurotransmitter transport and biosynthesis. It is thought that they played a key role in enabling life ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Methionine
Methionine (symbol Met or M) () is an essential amino acid in humans. As the precursor of other amino acids such as cysteine and taurine, versatile compounds such as SAM-e, and the important antioxidant glutathione, methionine plays a critical role in the metabolism and health of many species, including humans. It is encoded by the codon AUG. Methionine is also an important part of angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels. Supplementation may benefit those suffering from copper poisoning. Overconsumption of methionine, the methyl group donor in DNA methylation, is related to cancer growth in a number of studies. Methionine was first isolated in 1921 by John Howard Mueller. Biochemical details Methionine (abbreviated as Met or M; encoded by the codon AUG) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. It contains a carboxyl group (which is in the deprotonated −COO− form under biological pH conditions), an amino group (which is in the protonated fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Racemic
In chemistry, a racemic mixture, or racemate (), is one that has equal amounts of left- and right-handed enantiomers of a chiral molecule or salt. Racemic mixtures are rare in nature, but many compounds are produced industrially as racemates. History The first known racemic mixture was racemic acid, which Louis Pasteur found to be a mixture of the two enantiomeric isomers of tartaric acid. He manually separated the crystals of a mixture by hand, starting from an aqueous solution of the sodium ammonium salt of racemate tartaric acid. Pasteur benefited from the fact that ammonium tartrate salt that gives enantiomeric crystals with distinct crystal forms (at 77 °F). Reasoning from the macroscopic scale down to the molecular, he reckoned that the molecules had to have non-superimposable mirror images. A sample with only a single enantiomer is an ''enantiomerically pure'' or ''enantiopure'' compound. Etymology From racemic acid found in grapes; from Latin ''racemus'', meani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acrolein
Acrolein (systematic name: propenal) is the simplest unsaturated aldehyde. It is a colorless liquid with a piercing, acrid smell. The smell of burnt fat (as when cooking oil is heated to its smoke point) is caused by glycerol in the burning fat breaking down into acrolein. It is produced industrially from propylene and mainly used as a biocide and a building block to other chemical compounds, such as the amino acid methionine. History Acrolein was first named and characterized as an aldehyde by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius in 1839. He had been working with it as a thermal degradation product of glycerol, a material used in the manufacture of soap. The name is a contraction of ‘acrid’ (referring to its pungent smell) and ‘oleum’ (referring to its oil-like consistency). In the 20th century, acrolein became an important intermediate for the industrial production of acrylic acid and acrylic plastics. Production Acrolein is prepared industrially by oxidation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conjugate Addition
Nucleophilic conjugate addition is a type of organic reaction. Ordinary nucleophilic additions or 1,2-nucleophilic additions deal mostly with additions to carbonyl compounds. Simple alkene compounds do not show 1,2 reactivity due to lack of polarity, unless the alkene is activated with special substituents. With α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds such as cyclohexenone it can be deduced from resonance structures that the β position is an electrophilic site which can react with a nucleophile. The negative charge in these structures is stored as an alkoxide anion. Such a nucleophilic addition is called a nucleophilic conjugate addition or 1,4-nucleophilic addition. The most important active alkenes are the aforementioned conjugated carbonyls and acrylonitriles. Reaction mechanism Conjugate addition is the vinylogous counterpart of direct nucleophilic addition. A nucleophile reacts with a α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compound in the β position. The negative charge carried by the n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Methanethiol
Methanethiol (also known as methyl mercaptan) is an organosulfur compound with the chemical formula . It is a colorless gas with a distinctive putrid smell. It is a natural substance found in the blood, brain and feces of animals (including humans), as well as in plant tissues. It also occurs naturally in certain foods, such as some nuts and cheese. It is one of the chemical compounds responsible for bad breath and the smell of flatus. Methanethiol is the simplest thiol and is sometimes abbreviated as MeSH. It is very flammable. Structure and reactions The molecule is tetrahedral at the carbon atom, like methanol. It is a weak acid, with a p''K''a of ~10.4, but is about a hundred thousand times more acidic than methanol. The colorless salt can be obtained in this way: :CH3SH + CH3ONa → CH3SNa + CH3OH The resulting thiolate anion is a strong nucleophile. It can be oxidized to dimethyl disulfide: :2CH3SH + → CH3SSCH3 + H2O Further oxidation takes the disulfide to two mol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyanohydrin
In organic chemistry, a cyanohydrin or hydroxynitrile is a functional group found in organic compounds in which a cyano and a hydroxy group are attached to the same carbon atom. The general formula is , where R is H, alkyl, or aryl. Cyanohydrins are industrially important precursors to carboxylic acids and some amino acids. Cyanohydrins can be formed by the cyanohydrin reaction, which involves treating a ketone or an aldehyde with hydrogen cyanide (HCN) in the presence of excess amounts of sodium cyanide (NaCN) as a catalyst: : In this reaction, the nucleophilic ion attacks the electrophilic carbonyl carbon in the ketone, followed by protonation by HCN, thereby regenerating the cyanide anion. Cyanohydrins are also prepared by displacement of sulfite by cyanide salts: : Cyanohydrins are intermediates in the Strecker amino acid synthesis. In aqueous acid, they are hydrolyzed to the α-hydroxy acid. Acetone cyanohydrins Acetone cyanohydrin, (CH3)2C(OH)CN is the cyano ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Feed
Animal feed is food given to domestic animals, especially livestock, in the course of animal husbandry. There are two basic types: fodder and forage. Used alone, the word ''feed'' more often refers to fodder. Animal feed is an important input to animal agriculture, and is frequently the main cost of the raising or keeping of animals. Farms typically try to reduce cost for this food, by growing their own, grazing animals, or supplementing expensive feeds with substitutes, such as food waste like spent grain from beer brewing. Animal wellbeing is highly dependent on feed that reflects a well balanced nutrition. Some modern agricultural practices, such as fattening cows on grains or in feed lots, have detrimental effects on the environment and animals. For example, increased corn or other grain in feed for cows, makes their microbiomes more acidic weakening their immune systems and making cows a more likely vector for E.coli. While other feeding practices can improve animal impact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
