A Molecule You Should Know About: Alpha-Tocopherol

October 2023

Stacy Lagman

Okay, maybe that’s not an interesting title since most of us gag at the thought of thinking about chemistry. But the alpha-Tocopherol compound is actually pretty useful and very important, especially to us. It’s one of the eight components of Vitamin E, whose main role is to act as an antioxidant and keeps our muscles healthy, and is the most biologically active amongst the eight.

It was first discovered in 1936 by Herbert M. Evans, Oliver H. Emerson, and Gladys A. Emerson at the University of California - Berkeley, where it was first isolated from a wheat germ. It accumulates in blood and tissues. In 1938, Erhard Fernholz at Merck first described its structure based on its degradation products.

It is a chief antioxidant for the prevention of arteriosclerosis and also serves pro-oxidant, cell signaling and gene regulatory functions. It is mainly found in plant oils such as wheat germ, canola, sunflower, and safflower. Guess you learn something new everyday!

References:

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Harvard School of Public Health, March 2023, “Vitamin E”, [

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/vitamin-e/ ]

Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University, "How vitamin E keeps muscles healthy”, ScienceDaily, [ www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150519132635.htm ]

American Chemical Society, October 16, 2023, “alpha-Tocopherol”, [

https://www.acs.org/molecule-of-the-week/archive/t/alpha-tocopherol.html?cid=home_motw ]

R.S. Bruno, E. Mah, 2014, “Alpha Tocopherol”,

[ https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/alpha-tocopherol ]

J.M. Tucker, D. M. Townsend, February 4, 2019, “Alpha-tocopherol: roles in prevention and therapy of human disease”, [ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6361124/ ]