Pteroylglutamic acid structure

Common Name Pteroylglutamic acid Structural Formula ... 

Studies on growth factors required by certain microorganisms, for example Streptococcus faecalis and Lactobacillus casei, and of their relevance in animal nutrition, led to the isolation and characterization of folic acid, pteroylglutamic acid (104), the structure of which was determined in 1946. It is an essential vitamin for man and together with vitamin B12 it is involved in the development of blood cells. Deficiency causes macrocytic anaemia. Many microorganisms do not use exogenous folic acid, but synthesize their own, and some... 

FIGURE 9.1 Structure of folic acid (pteroylglutamic acid, PteGlu). 

Naturally occurring peptides of the pteroylglutamic acid (PGA) family and of folinic acid, such as p-aminobensoylpolyglutamic acid, are very closely related, by structure as well as by origin, and they may be considered as belonging to the same group. We will therefore discuss them together. 

Pteroylglutamic Acid. The structure of vitamin B and of the L. casei factor was elucidated by a series of chemical degradations, the details of which are found in an article by Hutchings and Mowat (300). The structure established by chemical degradation (22,425) was confirmed by the synthesis of N-[4- ([2-amino-4-hydroxy-6-pteridyl]methyl) amino benzoyl]-L glutamic acid, pteroylglutamic acid (PGA), a substance identical to vitamin B, and to the fiver L. casei factor. 

Chemical structure (Figure 10). Pteroylglutamic (PteGlu) is composed of a pterin moiety, 4-amino-benzoic acid and glutamic acid and is the parent substance numerous folates . 

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