What Is Glyceric Acid?
Glyceric acid is an organic compound with a molecular weight of 106.08 and molecular formula C3H6O4.
It is another name for 2,3-dihydroxypropionic acid, a hydroxycarboxylic acid.
Uses of Glyceric Acid
D-glyceric acid is an organic acid found naturally in plants and is a compound found in trace amounts in a variety of plants, including tobacco, artichokes, apples, and nuts.
In addition, glyceric acid has been reported to have multiple biological activities, such as improving liver function and promoting ethanol metabolism. However, research on its functions and applications is lacking. Recent studies have shown promise as a raw material for polymers and organic materials, including the following:
Diacylglyceric Acid
In which the hydroxyl group of glyceric acid is acylated to introduce, for example, linolenic acid or palmitic acid, is expected to be used as a composition for cosmetics and skin care products. In addition, monoacylglyceric acid has been shown to be a surfactant with minimal skin irritation.
Glycosyl Glyceric Acid
Obtained by reacting glyceric acid with sugar, has been found to be less irritating to skin cells and protective against external stress, and is expected to be a new material that can be applied to skin and hair care products.
As mentioned above, acyl and glucosyl derivatives of glyceric acid have been reported to have excellent surfactant and biomolecular protection functions. On the other hand, glyceric acid alone, without derivatives, has been shown to have a cell activating function (calcium glycerate activates ethanol-damaged stomach cells), and is expected to be used in dietary supplements.
In addition, glyceric acid has two hydroxyl groups and a carboxyl group with different reactivities, making it easy to polymerize, and it is expected to be developed into a biodegradable polymer.
Properties of Glyceric Acid
Glyceric acid is one of the hydroxycarboxylic acids and is represented by the chemical formula HOCH2(OH)COOH, but because it has an asymmetric carbon, there are two optical isomers, D- and L-body.
The D- and L-bodies are mirror images of each other, like the right and left hands, which cannot be superimposed on each other; D-glyceric acid and L-glyceric acid have the same chemical properties but different biological actions.
DL-glyceric acid, a mixture of D-glyceric acid and L-glyceric acid, is a syrupy liquid that is soluble in water, ethanol and acetone, but insoluble in ether and benzene. It is often sold as a solution of glyceric acid.
Other Information on Glyceric Acid
How Glyceric Acid Is Produced
Glyceric Acid is an important raw material as described above, but industrial production methods have not been established and it is expensive. Therefore, technological development is underway to produce glyceric acid from inexpensive glycerin.
It is widely known that DL-glyceric acid can be produced by chemical or biological oxidation of glycerin. However, it is necessary to control the oxidation of multiple hydroxyl groups in the molecule. Therefore, technological development for highly selective oxidation by various methods is underway.
It is known that D-glyceric acid and L-glyceric acid can be selectively obtained by racemization of DL-glyceric acid through the successful use of microorganisms. However, since the number of processes increases, a method to directly obtain the D-body using microorganisms is also being studied.
As a production method other than oxidation of glyceric acid, a method by hydrolysis of 2,3-dibromopropionic acid is also known.
Glyceric acid obtained by fermentation production is D-body, whereas L-glyceric acid is a promising raw material for synthesis of L-sugar derivatives that can be applied to pharmaceuticals and other products. Therefore, the development of a new process for the production of L-glycerynic acid is also underway. The development of a microbial process that can control the optical isomerism of glyceric acid has made it possible to obtain D-glyceric acid with a high L content.