What Is Inositol?
Inositol (chemical formula: C6H12O6) is a sugar alcohol biosynthesized from glucose. It is one of the bioactive substances deeply involved in cell proliferation and canceration, and is abundant in muscle and nerve cells.
Inositol is known as a vitamin-like substance and is a component of cell membranes. It exists in crystalline form at room temperature.
There are a total of nine stereoisomers, and myoinositol is usually referred to as inositol. This is because only myoinositol has biological activity and has been widely studied.
Uses of Inositol
Inositol is widely used in the production of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and food additives.
1. Pharmaceuticals
Inositol is used as a liver function improver and as an antidepressant. It is also involved in calcium and lipid metabolism in the body and is used in the prevention and treatment of diabetes because of its effect on lowering blood sugar levels.
In addition, it is expected to improve polycystic ovary syndrome and panic disorder, and is being studied.
2. Supplements
Inositol binds to phosphoric acid in the body and acts on blood cholesterol and the nervous system of the brain. It has an effect of facilitating the elimination of fat, and is expected to prevent and improve lifestyle-related diseases.
In addition, inositol is often used as an additive in food supplements and foods to maintain normal nerve function and healthy hair.
Properties of Inositol
Inositol is a white crystalline powder with a molecular weight of 180.16 g/mol and a molecular formula of C6H12O6. It is well soluble in water, but its solubility in water varies greatly with temperature.
It is a sugar alcohol with half the sweetness of sucrose, and is naturally produced from glucose in the human body. The human kidneys produce about 2 g of inositol per day, and the organ in the human body with the highest concentration of inositol is the brain.
It plays an important role in binding neurotransmitters and some steroid hormones to their receptors.
Inositol was once considered a member of the B vitamin family and was called vitamin B8. However, it is not included in the essential nutrients list because it is produced from glucose in the human body.
Structure of Inositol
Inositol has a cyclohexanol structure with six hydroxy groups attached to the cyclohexane ring. This structure allows inositol to function as part of many naturally occurring biomolecules.
Inositol is a meso compound and is optically inert because of its symmetry plane. Formerly called meso-inositol, it is now commonly referred to as myo-inositol because of the existence of other meso-isomers.
Other naturally occurring stereoisomers besides myo-inositol include scyllo-, muco-, D-chiro-, L-chiro-, and neo-inositol, which occur in nature only in very small quantities. Of these, L-tyroinositol and D-tyroinositol are, as their names suggest, the only enantiomeric pairs; all others are meso compounds.
The myoinositol isomer takes the chair-shaped structure as its most stable conformation.
Other Information on Inositol
How Inositol is Produced
Inositol is widely biosynthesized in plants, animals, and bacteria. It is synthesized in plant and animal cells. Natural inositol can be extracted from plants, but industrially, microbial fermentation is the primary method used. Industrially, it is mostly produced from cornstarch and wort.
Carbohydrates such as glucose and sucrose from plant materials are used as substrates for fermentation by yeast and bacteria. The product is then extracted and purified to yield inositol.
Solvent extraction, resin adsorption, chromatography, and membrane separation are used as extraction methods.