quinic acid

[kwin-ik]

noun

Chemistry.

1. a white, crystalline, water-soluble, solid cyclic compound, C 7 H 1 2 O 6 , present in cinchona bark, coffee beans, and the leaves of many plants.

quinic acid

/ ˈkwɪnɪk /

noun

1. a white crystalline soluble optically active carboxylic acid, found in cinchona bark, bilberries, coffee beans, and the leaves of certain other plants; 1,3,4,5-tetrahydroxycyclohexanecarboxylic acid. Formula: C 6 H 7 (OH) 4 COOH

Word History and Origins

Origin of quinic acid¹

1805–15; < Spanish quin ( a ) quinine + -ic

Example Sentences

Quinic acid, which is present in cranberries, is metabolized by the body into hippuric acid, a substance that in very high concentrations is toxic to E. coli, the pathogen most commonly to blame for U.T.I.s.

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To prevent the formation of uric acid Robin prescribes quinic acid combined with formine or urotropine.

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In 1838 Woskresensky, by oxidizing quinic acid with sulphuric acid and oxide of manganese, obtained a crystalline substance which he called quinoyl.

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Hydroquinone was obtained by Caventou and Pelletier by heating quinic acid, but these chemists did not recognize its true nature.

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In the case of hydroquinone, the original source, quinic acid, was obviously out of question, for economical reasons.

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