SATURATED FATTY ACIDS 



31 



basis of the work by Lipmann, Baddiley, Novelli, Kaplan, and him- 

 seK/-^~^'- Lynen'*" postulated the following structure for CoA. The 

 molecular weight of this structure of 767 agrees well with an earlier esti- 

 mation of Novelli, ^^* who calculated it as 766. Acetyl-CoA has been syn- 

 thesized by King and co-workers^^^ and independently by Baddiley and 

 Thain.i^^ 



NH, 



/■ 



N 

 HC 



-N 



II 

 CH 



NH— CH2CH2S— COCH3 

 C=0 



\ 



N 



N 



CH, 



i 



H, 



HC 

 H 



HC 



I 

 HC 



H,C 



COH O 



.OH 

 -0— P=0 

 r^ ^OH 



-0- 



NH 



HCOH 



CHa C CH3 



-CH, 



OH OH 



Structure of Acetyl Coenzyme A (Acetyl-CoA)*" 



(a) Different Natural Forms of Coenzyme A. Pantetheine is the simplest 

 and most common form of CoA. In this compound, the sulfur is present 

 in the reduced ( — SH) form. Snell and co-workers '^"-^^^ demonstrated that 

 the growth factor for Lactobacillus bulgaricus (LBF) is identical with pante- 

 theine. Pantetheine was showm by Snell et al.^^° to be synthesized from 

 pantothenic acid by certain bacteria. However, it was found that LBF is 

 more reactive than is the corresponding amount of pantothenic acid. At 

 least seven forms of LBF have been identified, by paper chromatography 

 and by bioautographic technics, ^'^ in culture filtrates of Bacillus mega- 

 therium (rod-shaped bacilli from water, soil, cabbage, etc.); these were pre- 



^^^ G. D. Novelli, J. D. Gregory, R. M. Flynn, and F. J. Schmetz, Federation. Proc, 10, 

 229-230 (1951). 



^^ F. Lynen and E. Reichert, Angew. Chem., 63, 47-48 (1951). 



131 J. Baddiley, E. M. Thain, G. D. Novelli, and F. Lipmann, Nature, 171, 76 (1953). 



1" T. P. Wang, L. Shuster, and N. O. Kaplan, J. Am. Chem. Sac, 74, 3204-3205 

 (1952). 



1" G. D. Novelli, Phosphorus Metabolism, I, 414-417 (1951). 



I'^T. E. King, C. J. Stewart, and V. H. Cheldelin, Science, 117, 439 (1953)- 



"5 J. Baddiley and E. M. Thain, Science, 117, 439-440 (1953). 



"6 C. L. Long and W. L. WiUiams, J. Bacterial., 61, 195-202 (1951). 



