Isovanillin Explained

Isovanillin is a phenolic aldehyde, an organic compound and isomer of vanillin.^[1] It is a selective inhibitor of aldehyde oxidase. It is not a substrate of that enzyme, and is metabolized by aldehyde dehydrogenase into isovanillic acid, which could make it a candidate drug for use in alcohol aversion therapy.^[2] Isovanillin can be used as a precursor in the chemical total synthesis of morphine.^{[3] [4]} The proposed metabolism of isovanillin (and vanillin) in rat has been described in literature,^[5] and is part of the WikiPathways^[6] machine readable pathway collection.

See also

• Vanillin
• 2-Hydroxy-5-methoxybenzaldehyde
• ortho-Vanillin
• 2-Hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde

Notes and References

1. Web site: isovanillin - Compound Summary (CID 12127).
2. Enzymatic Oxidation of Vanillin, Isovanillin and Protocatechuic Aldehyde with Freshly Prepared Guinea Pig Liver Slices. Georgios Panoutsopoulos . Christine Beedham . 17057295. Cell Physiol Biochem. 2005. 15. 1–4. 89–98. 15665519. 10.1159/000083641. quant-ph/0403227.
3. Uchida, Kenji . Yokoshima, Satoshi . Kan, Toshiyuki . Fukuyama, Tohru . Total Synthesis of (±)-Morphine. Organic Letters. 2006. 8. 23. 5311–5313. 10.1021/ol062112m. 17078705.
4. Uchida, Kenji . Yokoshima, Satoshi . Kan, Toshiyuki . Fukuyama, Tohru . Total Synthesis of (±)-Morphine. Heterocycles. 2009. 77. 2. 1219–1234. 10.1021/ol062112m. 17078705 . 27 December 2013.
5. Strand. L. P.. Scheline. R. R.. January 1975. The metabolism of vanillin and isovanillin in the rat. Xenobiotica; the Fate of Foreign Compounds in Biological Systems. 5. 1. 49–63. 10.3109/00498257509056093. 0049-8254. 1154798.
6. Web site: Vanillin and isovanillin metabolism. 2019-10-31. WikiPathways.