Location: Commodity Utilization Research
Title: Biological roles and applications of aconitic acidAuthor
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Submitted to: Scholarly Community Encyclopedia
Publication Type: Literature Review Publication Acceptance Date: 3/16/2022 Publication Date: 3/16/2022 Citation: Bruni, G.O., Klasson, K.T. 2022. Biological roles and applications of aconitic acid. Scholarly Community Encyclopedia. Available: http//encyclopedia.pub/entry/20605. Interpretive Summary: Aconitic acid is a valuable six-carbon organic acid that accumulates in sugar crops such as sugarcane and sweet sorghum. Aconitic acid can be isolated from renewable agricultural by-products and used to produce value-added chemicals and bio-based products. Some of these bio-based products have potential applications in tissue engineering and sustainable agriculture. Environmentally friendly uses of aconitic acid also include its use as a bio-based plasticizer, cross-linker, and precursor to various high value polyesters. Technical Abstract: Aconitic acid (propene-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid) is the most prevalent 6-carbon organic acid that accumulates in sugarcane and sweet sorghum. As a top value-added chemical, aconitic acid may function as a chemical precursor or intermediate for high-value downstream industrial and biological applications. These downstream applications include use as a bio-based plasticizer, cross-linker, and the formation of valuable and multi-functional polyesters that have also been used in tissue engineering. Aconitic acid also plays various biological roles within cells as an intermediate in the tricarboxylic acid cycle and in conferring unique survival advantages to some plants as an antifeedant, antifungal, and means of storing fixed pools of carbon. Aconitic acid has also been reported as a fermentation inhibitor, anti-inflammatory, and a potential nematicide. |
