BIOCHEMISTRY Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Scurvy, Enol, Proline
21 Oct 2022
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Document Summary
It is water soluble and is easily destroyed by heat, alkali and storage. In the process of cooking, 70% of vitamin c is lost. The structural formula of ascorbic acid closely resembles that of carbohydrates. The strong reducing property of vitamin c depends on the double-bonded (enediol) carbons. Only l-ascorbic acid and dehydroascorbic acid have antiscorbutic activity. Most animals and plants can synthesize ascorbic acid from glucose. Man, higher primates, guineapigs and bats are the only species which cannot synthesize ascorbic acid (block in gulonolactone oxidase step). Since vitamin c is a strong reducing agent, the benedict"s test will be positive in the urine sample after the vitamin administration. Hydroxylation of proline: ascorbic acid is necessary for the post-translational hydroxylation of proline and lysine residues, hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine are essential for the formation of cross-linkings in collagen, which gives the tensile strength of the fibers.
