Page 89 - Encyclopedia of Chemical Compounds 3 Vols

ALPHA TOCOPHEROL

(1882–1971) and Katherine Scott Bishop (1889–1976). Evans
Alpha tocopheryl. Red atoms
and Bishop found that rats whose diet was deficient in
are oxygen; white atoms are
a-tocopherol did not reproduce normally. Scientists are now
hydrogen; and black atoms are
carbon. PU BL I S HERS aware that the primary function of vitamin D in the human
RESOURCE GRO U P
body is as an antioxidant. An antioxidant is a substance that
reacts with and prevents the harmful effects of chemical
strictures known as free radicals. A free radical is an atom
or group of atoms with a single unpaired electron, making
the atom or atoms unusually reactive. Free radicals are
thought to be a primary cause of cell damage leading to
cardiovascular disease, cancer, and aging.
Vitamin E was first produced synthetically (artificially)
in 1938 by Swiss chemist Paul Karrer (1889–1971), who had
been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry a year earlier for
his studies of vitamin A, vitamin B 2 , and other important
biological compounds.

HOW IT IS MADE
A variety of methods is now available for the synthesis
(artificial production) of the tocopherols. In the most com-
monly used procedure, 2,3,5-trimethylhydroquinone is reacted
with isophytol over one of many possible catalysts. A small
amount of the vitamin is still obtained from natural sources,
usually as the by-product in the treatment of one of its
natural sources.

38 CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS