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Vitamins and Nutrition
Published in Richard J. Sundberg, The Chemical Century, 2017
The search for folic acid, also called vitamin B9, was initiated by Lucy Wills, an English pathologist. In 1930, Margaret Balfour, head of the Indian Medical Service, asked Dr. Wills to investigate a form of anemia that afflicted pregnant textile workers. Dr. Wills found that Marmite, a spread prepared from yeast, was an effective treatment. Several research groups isolated a factor having antianemia activity from sources such as liver and spinach leaves. Sometime later, Robert Stokstad, working at the Lederle Labs in the United States, determined the structure as folic acid. Folate deficiency is particular harmful in pregnant women because it can lead to neurological defects in the child. Folic acid plays a role in biosynthesis of two very important molecules, the amino acid methionine and the nucleic acid base thymine.17
Biomolecules of Similar Charge Polarity Form Hybrid Gel
Published in Soft Materials, 2022
Pankaj Pandey, Vinod Kumar Aswal, Joachim Kohlbrecher, Himadri B. Bohidar
FA is the synthetic form of folate, an important member of vitamin B family. Structurally, FA is in an extended conformation with the pteridine ring (fused pyrimidine and pyrazine rings) in the keto form where the C(4) oxygen and N(10) atoms are located on the same side of the molecule.[7] Very often the FA pteridine and phenyl rings interact in a stacking manner which lead to the of association these groups to form a complex of folate, dihydrofolate reductase, and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate. FA with the molecular formula of C19H19, has a nominal molecular weight of ≈ 441 Da. The crystal and molecular structure of FA has been determined by x-ray diffraction.[8] Because of the intrinsic hydrophobicity of FA, its water dispersibility is marginal. By the manipulation of hydrophobicity, native FA, which behaves as a super-gelator in DMSO–water binary solvent, can be made to generate a supramolecular gel. FA supramolecular gels made in water-organic solvent binary mixtures have been reported.[9] It has been realized that native FA can serve as an efficient molecular building block, and as a super-gelator to produce multi-responsive soft materials.[10,11] Folate plays an important role for a range of regulatory functions in the human body. It is required for the synthesis and repair of DNA and other genetic material, production and maintenance of new cells including RBCs, and it is also necessary for cell division. Folate deficiency can lead to severe anemia, and during pregnancy, to neural tube irregularities, such as spina bifida and anencephaly. FA derived hydrogel enhances the survival and promotes therapeutic efficacy of iPS Cells for acute myocardial infarction.[12] The hierarchical self-assembly of FA supramolecular hydrogels offer robust mechanical elastic modulus comparable to synthetic double-network polymer gels.[13]