Folic Acid Formula

Folic acid is a complex B vitamin source. It is also referred to as folate or vitamin B9. It is the fact that B9 along with its other forms is important for preserving the health of the brain of infants. Folic acid also helps to prevent hearing loss and also creates red blood cells. It is an important ingredient of the nucleic acid of all genetic materials. It is useful for various purposes in daily life as well. This article will explain the Folic Acid concept and Folic Acid Formula with examples. Let us learn it!

Folic Acid Formula

What is Folic Acid?

Folate and folic acid are the forms of a water-soluble B vitamin. Folate also occurs naturally in food. It is the synthetic form of this Vitamin B. Folic acid is added to the cold cereals, flour, bread, pasta, and other bakery items. Foods with naturally high with folate are leafy vegetables (such as spinach, broccoli, and lettuce). Also, it is available in okra, asparagus, bananas, melons, and lemons. Some other food items are beans, yeast, mushrooms, meat, orange juice, and tomato juice.

Naturally, occurring folate is easily available in citrus fruits and also in the dark green vegetables. It is essential in making genetic material, human body development, and red blood synthesis.

Folic Acid Chemical Formula:

Folic Acid is generally useful to cure the Anaemia and folate deficiencies. It is essential for the generation and maintenance of new cells as well as for DNA and RNA synthesis through methylation. Its chemical formula is:

C_{19} H_{19} N_7 O_6

The molecule is formed by a long chain of 6 members. It contains one aryl ring join to a dihydropyridine ring.

Preparation:

It is produced synthetically through the condensation of the chemicals.

Physical properties:

Folic acid is a yellow to orange, tasteless, needles crystalline solid. Its melting point is 250 degrees C and above this temperature, it starts decomposing. Folic acid is slightly soluble in water, ethanol, methanol and butanol solvents. On the other hand, it is insoluble in acetone, chloroform, ether, and benzene. Solutions of hydroxides and carbonates are the best solvents for it.

Chemical properties:

Folic acid in nature is performing many reactions like the transference of methyl groups to organic compounds in the metabolism of the amino acid. It is essential for red blood cell production, DNA replications, and amino acids synthesis. Due to its function in the synthesis of DNA and amino acids, its deficiency may cause inadequate methylation processes and cancer.

Uses:

Folic acid is an essential vitamin for our body. It should be ingested through a diet containing the right quantity of vegetables. Especially during pregnancy. The diets low in folic acid is critical and hence responsible for some diseases on new-born babies. Also, poor ingestion of folic acid can cause a decrease in the fertility of women and men.

Solved examples:

Q.1: Calculate the molar mass of Folic Acid.

Solution: Formula for Folic Acid:

C_{19} H_{19} N_7 O_6

Its molar mass will be,

= 19 \times 12.0107 + 19 \times 1.00784 + 7 \times 14.0067 + 6 \times 15.999

= 441.404 gram per mol.

The molar mass of Folic Acid will be 441.404 gram per mol.