pyruvic acid - Chemistry, Biochemical role, Pyruvic acid's role in the origin of life

CH₃–CO–COOH, IUPAC 2-oxopropanoic acid. The non-chiral oxidation product of lactic acid. It occurs in several metabolic reaction pathways.

Pyruvic acid (CH3COCO2H) is an alpha-keto acid which plays an important role in biochemical processes.

Chemistry

Pyruvic acid is a colorless liquid with a smell similar to acetic acid. In the laboratory, pyruvic acid may be prepared by heating a mixture of tartaric acid and potassium hydrogen sulfate, or by the hydrolysis of acetyl cyanide, formed by reaction of acetyl chloride with potassium cyanide:

CH3COCl + KCN → CH3COCN CH3COCN → CH3COCOOH

Biochemical role

Pyruvate is an important chemical compound in biochemistry. The cycle is also called the citric acid cycle, because citric acid is one of the intermediate compounds formed during the reactions.

If insufficient oxygen is available, the acid is broken down anaerobically, creating lactic acid in animals and ethanol in plants. Pyruvic acid can be converted to carbohydrates via gluconeogenesis, to fatty acids or energy through acetyl-CoA, to the amino acid alanine and to ethanol.

Pyruvate production by glycolysis

phosphoenolpyruvate	Pyruvate kinase		pyruvate
	ADP	ATP
	ADP	ATP
				Pyruvate kinase

Compound C00074 at KEGG Pathway Database.

Pyruvic acid's role in the origin of life

Current evolutionary theory on the origin of life posits that the first organisms were anaerobic because the atmosphere of prebiotic Earth was almost devoid of oxygen.