Phenylacetic acid

About: Phenylacetic acid is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1289 publications have been published within this topic receiving 19597 citations. The topic is also known as: ω-phenylacetic acid & α-toluic acid.

Colonic metabolites of berry polyphenols: the missing link to biological activity?

Abstract: The absorption of dietary phenols, polyphenols and tannins (PPT) is an essential step for biological activity and effects on health. Although a proportion of these dietary bioactive compounds are absorbed intact, depending on their chemical structure and the nature of any attached moiety (e.g. sugar, organic acid), substantial amounts of lower molecular weight catabolites are absorbed after biotransformation by the colon microflora. The main products in the colon are (a) benzoic acids (C6-C1), especially benzoic acid and protocatechuic acid; (b) phenylacetic acids (C6-C2), especially phenylacetic acid per se; (c) phenylpropionic acids (C6-C3), where the latter are almost entirely in the dihydro form, notably dihydrocaffeic acid, dihydroferulic acid, phenylpropionic acid and 3-(3'-hydroxyphenyl)-propionic acid. As a result of this biotransformation, some of these compounds can each reach mm concentrations in faecal water. Many of these catabolites are efficiently absorbed in the colon, appear in the blood and are ultimately excreted in the urine. In the case of certain polyphenols, such as anthocyanins, these catabolites are major products in vivo; protocatechuic acid is reported to represent a substantial amount of the ingested dose of cyanidin-3-O-glucoside. The major catabolites of berries, and especially blackcurrants, are predicted based on compositional data for polyphenols from berries and other sources. Since microbial catabolites may be present at many sites of the body in higher concentration than the parent compound, it is proposed that at least a part of the biological activities ascribed to berry polyphenols and other PPT are due to their colonic catabolites.

The Effect of Activated Charcoal on Tissue Cultures: Adsorption of Metabolites Inhibiting Morphogenesis

Abstract: Cell suspensions of Daucus carota and Haplopappus gracilis and callus suspensions of Allum cepa var. proliferum were grown in media with and without activated charcoal. Differentiation occurred in those Daucus and Allium cultures that contained charcoal. It was shown by mass spectrometry that the media without charcoal contained high amounts of phenylacetic acid and p-OH-benzoic acid (Daucus), 2,6-OH-benzoic acid (Allium) and benzoic acid, pelargonic acid and caprylic acid (Haplopappus), whereas the media with activated charcoal did not. It was also shown that p-OH-benzoic acid had inhibitory effects on the embryogenesis in Daucus cultures.

Anaerobic naphthalene degradation by a sulfate-reducing enrichment culture.

Abstract: Anaerobic naphthalene degradation by a sulfate-reducing enrichment culture was studied by substrate utilization tests and identification of metabolites by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In substrate utilization tests, the culture was able to oxidize naphthalene, 2-methylnaphthalene, 1- and 2-naphthoic acids, phenylacetic acid, benzoic acid, cyclohexanecarboxylic acid, and cyclohex-1-ene-carboxylic acid with sulfate as the electron acceptor. Neither hydroxylated 1- or 2-naphthoic acid derivatives and 1- or 2-naphthol nor the monoaromatic compounds ortho-phthalic acid, 2-carboxy-1-phenylacetic acid, and salicylic acid were utilized by the culture within 100 days. 2-Naphthoic acid accumulated in all naphthalene-grown cultures. Reduced 2-naphthoic acid derivatives could be identified by comparison of mass spectra and coelution with commercial reference compounds such as 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-2-naphthoic acid and chemically synthesized decahydro-2-naphthoic acid. 5,6,7,8-Tetrahydro-2-naphthoic acid and octahydro-2-naphthoic acid were tentatively identified by their mass spectra. The metabolites identified suggest a stepwise reduction of the aromatic ring system before ring cleavage. In degradation experiments with [1-13C]naphthalene or deuterated D8-naphthalene, all metabolites mentioned derived from the introduced labeled naphthalene. When a [13C]bicarbonate-buffered growth medium was used in conjunction with unlabeled naphthalene, 13C incorporation into the carboxylic group of 2-naphthoic acid was shown, indicating that activation of naphthalene by carboxylation was the initial degradation step. No ring fission products were identified.

Molecular characterization of the phenylacetic acid catabolic pathway in Pseudomonas putida U: The phenylacetyl-CoA catabolon

Abstract: Fourteen different genes included in a DNA fragment of 18 kb are involved in the aerobic degradation of phenylacetic acid by Pseudomonas putida U. This catabolic pathway appears to be organized in three contiguous operons that contain the following functional units: (i) a transport system, (ii) a phenylacetic acid activating enzyme, (iii) a ring-hydroxylation complex, (iv) a ring-opening protein, (v) a β-oxidation-like system, and (vi) two regulatory genes. This pathway constitutes the common part (core) of a complex functional unit (catabolon) integrated by several routes that catalyze the transformation of structurally related molecules into a common intermediate (phenylacetyl-CoA).