Riboflavin

Absorption

Vitamin B2 is readily absorbed from the upper gastrointestinal tract.

Description

A water-soluble B fraction was found in the 1920s to contain a yellow, fluorescent growth factor called riboflavin in England and vitamin G in the United States. In the early 1930s, several groups found the coenzyme forms of riboflavin 50-phosphate (flavin mononucleotide) and the further conjugate with adenylic acid (flavin adenine dinucleotide).

Description

Riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, is an enzyme cofactor in many flavoprotein enzyme reactions, notably the activation of other vitamins. It exists widely in nature, for example, in dairy products, eggs, organ tissues, and leafy vegetables. Yeast and its extracts are the richest natural source.
Riboflavin was first synthesized in Germany and Austria in the 1930s by chemists H. Meerwein and R. Kuhn and their colleagues. For use as a nutritional supplement, it was originally manufactured chemically, primarily from?o-xylene,?D-ribose, and alloxan. Nowadays it is biosynthesized with the use of fermenting organisms such as the fungus?Ashbya gossypii?and the bacterium?Bacillus subtilis.
This year, J. B. Metternich and R. Gilmour at the University of Munster (Germany) found a new use for riboflavin. In a search for a better way to make?Z-olefins, they noted that riboflavin can serve as a photocatalytic chromophore to isomerize the?E-isomer of retinal (a vitamin A aldehyde found in retinas) to its?Z-form.?They used riboflavin to catalyze the selective, irreversible conversion of planar, conjugated?E-olefins to their twisted, nonconjugated?Z-counterparts.?The researchers believe that this reaction will be useful in synthesizing complex molecules such as drugs and agrochemicals.

The Uses of Riboflavin

riboflavin (Vitamin B2) is used in skin care preparations as an emollient. It can be found in sun care products as a suntan enhancer. Medicinally, it is used for the treatment of skin lesions.

Indications

For the treatment of ariboflavinosis (vitamin B2 deficiency).

What are the applications of Application

Riboflavin is involved in FMN and FAD synthesis

Background

Nutritional factor found in milk, eggs, malted barley, liver, kidney, heart, and leafy vegetables. The richest natural source is yeast. It occurs in the free form only in the retina of the eye, in whey, and in urine; its principal forms in tissues and cells are as flavin mononucleotide and flavin-adenine dinucleotide.

Pharmacokinetics

Riboflavin or vitamin B2 is an easily absorbed, water-soluble micronutrient with a key role in maintaining human health. Like the other B vitamins, it supports energy production by aiding in the metabolising of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. Vitamin B2 is also required for red blood cell formation and respiration, antibody production, and for regulating human growth and reproduction. It is essential for healthy skin, nails, hair growth and general good health, including regulating thyroid activity. Riboflavin also helps in the prevention or treatment of many types of eye disorders, including some cases of cataracts.

Metabolism

Hepatic.