Names | |||
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Preferred IUPAC name Dichloroacetic acid | |||
Other names Dichloroethanoic acid, bichloroacetic acid, DCA, BCA, dichloracetic acid, bichloracetic acid | |||
Identifiers | |||
3D model (JSmol) | |||
1098596 | |||
ChEBI | |||
ChEMBL | |||
ChemSpider | |||
DrugBank | |||
ECHA InfoCard | 100.001.098 | ||
EC Number |
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2477 | |||
KEGG | |||
MeSH | Dichloroacetate | ||
PubChem CID | |||
RTECS number |
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UNII | |||
UN number | 1764 | ||
CompTox Dashboard (EPA) | |||
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Properties | |||
C2H2Cl2O2 | |||
Molar mass | 128.94 g·mol−1 | ||
Appearance | Colorless liquid | ||
Density | 1.5634 g/cm3 (20 °C) | ||
Melting point | 9 to 11 °C (48 to 52 °F; 282 to 284 K) | ||
Boiling point | 194 °C (381 °F; 467 K) | ||
miscible | |||
Solubility | miscible with ethanol, diethyl ether [1] | ||
Acidity (pKa) | 1.35 [1] | ||
-58.2·10−6 cm3/mol | |||
Thermochemistry | |||
Std enthalpy of formation (ΔfH⦵298) | −496.3 kJ·mol−1 [1] | ||
Hazards | |||
GHS labelling: | |||
Warning | |||
H314, H400 | |||
P260, P264, P273, P280, P301+P330+P331, P303+P361+P353, P304+P340, P305+P351+P338, P310, P321, P363, P391, P405, P501 | |||
NFPA 704 (fire diamond) | |||
Safety data sheet (SDS) | MSDS (jtbaker) | ||
Related compounds | |||
Related chloroacetic acids | Chloroacetic acid Trichloroacetic acid | ||
Related compounds | Acetic acid Difluoroacetic acid Dibromoacetic acid | ||
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa). |
Dichloroacetic acid (DCA), sometimes called bichloroacetic acid (BCA), is the organic compound with formula CHCl2CO2H. It is an analogue of acetic acid, in which 2 of the 3 hydrogen atoms of the methyl group have been replaced by chlorine atoms. Like the other chloroacetic acids, it has various practical applications. The salts and esters of dichloroacetic acid are called dichloroacetates.
The chemistry of dichloroacetic acid is typical for halogenated organic acids. It is an alkylating agent. It forms esters.
It is a member of the chloroacetic acids family. As such it is more acidic than acetic acid. It fully dissociates into dichloroacetate when dissolved in water, consistent with it pKa of 1.35, [1] pure dichloroacetic acid is classed as a strong organic acid; it is very corrosive and extremely destructive to tissues of the mucous membranes and upper respiratory tract via inhalation. [2]
DCA has been shown to occur in nature in at least one seaweed, Asparagopsis taxiformis [3] and also in the mushroom Russula nigricans . [4] It is a trace product of the chlorination of drinking water and is produced by the metabolism of various chlorine-containing drugs or chemicals. [5] DCA is typically prepared by the reduction of trichloroacetic acid (TCA). [6] DCA is prepared from chloral hydrate also by the reaction with calcium carbonate and sodium cyanide in water followed by acidifying with hydrochloric acid. [7]
As a laboratory reagent, both DCA and TCA [8] are used as precipitants to prompt macromolecules such as proteins to precipitate out of solution. [9]
Salts of DCA have been studied as potential drugs because they inhibit the enzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase. [10] Although preliminary studies found that DCA can slow the growth of certain tumors in animal studies and in vitro studies, as of 2012 insufficient evidence supported the use of DCA for cancer treatment. [11]
A randomized controlled trial in children with congenital lactic acidosis found that while DCA was well tolerated, it was ineffective in improving clinical outcomes. [12] A separate trial of DCA in children with MELAS (a syndrome of inadequate mitochondrial function, leading to lactic acidosis) was halted early, as all 15 of the children receiving DCA experienced significant nerve toxicity without any evidence of benefit from the medication. [13] A randomized controlled trial of DCA in adults with lactic acidosis found that while DCA lowered blood lactate levels, it had no clinical benefit and did not improve hemodynamics or survival. [14]
Thus, while early case reports and pre-clinical data suggested that DCA might be effective for lactic acidosis, subsequent controlled trials have found no clinical benefit of DCA in this setting. In addition, clinical trial subjects were incapable of continuing on DCA as a study medication owing to progressive toxicities.
In 2007 reports emerged in the press and via the Internet that Evangelos Michelakis and coworkers at the University of Alberta had reported that sodium dichloroacetate reduced tumors in rats and killed cancer cells in vitro . [15] Because the drug cannot be patented, financing the broad and expensive testing required to obtain FDA approval is problematic. [16] The US Food and Drug Administration enforces the law that prohibits the sale of substances with the suggestion that they are cancer treatments unless they have been approved by the FDA. [17]
The American Cancer Society in 2012 stated that "available evidence does not support the use of DCA for cancer treatment at this time." [11] Physicians warned of potential problems if people attempt to try DCA outside a controlled clinical trial. [18] One problem with attempting this is obtaining the chemical. One fraudster was sentenced to 33 months in prison for selling a white powder containing starch, but no DCA, to people with cancer. [19]
The only monitored in vivo dosage of five human patients with glioblastoma with DCA was not designed to test its efficacy against their cancer. This study was rather to see whether it could be given at a specific dosage safely without causing side effects (e.g. neuropathy). All five patients were receiving other treatments during the study. [20] [21] Observations in vitro and of tumours extracted from those five patients suggest that DCA might act against cancer cells by depolarising abnormal mitochondria found in glioblastoma cancer cells – allowing the mitochondria to induce apoptosis (cell death) of the malignant cells. [20] In vitro work with DCA on neuroblastomas (which have fewer recognised mitochondrial abnormalities) showed activity against malignant, undifferentiated cells. [22] A 2016 case report discussed and reviewed the application of DCA in central nervous system malignancies. [23] A 2018 study found that DCA could trigger a metabolic switch from glycolysis (the Warburg effect) to mitochondrial OXPHOS and increase reactive oxygen stress affecting tumor cells. These effects were not observed in non-tumor cells. [24]
Neuropathy has been a problem in some clinical trials with DCA causing them to be effectively halted, [13] but a 2008 BJC review found that it has not occurred in other DCA trials. [25] The mechanism of DCA induced neuropathy is not well understood. [26] On the one hand in vitro work with nerves has suggested a mechanism for the neuropathic effect of DCA; with DCA showing a dose and exposure dependent demyelination of nerves (stripping of the nerve 'sheath'), which demyelination was partially reversible over time, following washout of DCA. [27] On the other hand, the 2008 review in BJC [25] states "This neurotoxicity resembled the pattern of length-dependent, axonal, sensorimotor polyneuropathy without demyelination." with regard to the 2006 study by Kaufman et al. [13]
DCA has been investigated as a treatment for post-ischemic recovery. [28] There is also evidence that DCA improves metabolism by NADH production stimulation, but may lead to a depletion of NADH in normoxia. [29]
Pyruvic acid (CH3COCOOH) is the simplest of the alpha-keto acids, with a carboxylic acid and a ketone functional group. Pyruvate, the conjugate base, CH3COCOO−, is an intermediate in several metabolic pathways throughout the cell.
Mitochondrial disease is a group of disorders caused by mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria are the organelles that generate energy for the cell and are found in every cell of the human body except red blood cells. They convert the energy of food molecules into the ATP that powers most cell functions.
Lactic acid is an organic acid. It has the molecular formula C3H6O3. It is white in the solid state and it is miscible with water. When in the dissolved state, it forms a colorless solution. Production includes both artificial synthesis as well as natural sources. Lactic acid is an alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA) due to the presence of a hydroxyl group adjacent to the carboxyl group. It is used as a synthetic intermediate in many organic synthesis industries and in various biochemical industries. The conjugate base of lactic acid is called lactate (or the lactate anion). The name of the derived acyl group is lactoyl.
Lactic acidosis refers to the process leading to the production of lactate by anaerobic metabolism. It increases hydrogen ion concentration tending to the state of acidemia or low pH. The result can be detected with high levels of lactate and low levels of bicarbonate. This is usually considered the result of illness but also results from strenuous exercise. The effect on pH is moderated by the presence of respiratory compensation.
Tumor hypoxia is the situation where tumor cells have been deprived of oxygen. As a tumor grows, it rapidly outgrows its blood supply, leaving portions of the tumor with regions where the oxygen concentration is significantly lower than in healthy tissues. Hypoxic microenvironments in solid tumors are a result of available oxygen being consumed within 70 to 150 μm of tumor vasculature by rapidly proliferating tumor cells thus limiting the amount of oxygen available to diffuse further into the tumor tissue. In order to support continuous growth and proliferation in challenging hypoxic environments, cancer cells are found to alter their metabolism. Furthermore, hypoxia is known to change cell behavior and is associated with extracellular matrix remodeling and increased migratory and metastatic behavior.
Leigh syndrome is an inherited neurometabolic disorder that affects the central nervous system. It is named after Archibald Denis Leigh, a British neuropsychiatrist who first described the condition in 1951. Normal levels of thiamine, thiamine monophosphate, and thiamine diphosphate are commonly found, but there is a reduced or absent level of thiamine triphosphate. This is thought to be caused by a blockage in the enzyme thiamine-diphosphate kinase, and therefore treatment in some patients would be to take thiamine triphosphate daily. While the majority of patients typically exhibit symptoms between the ages of 3 and 12 months, instances of adult onset have also been documented.
The Cori cycle, named after its discoverers, Carl Ferdinand Cori and Gerty Cori, is a metabolic pathway in which lactate, produced by anaerobic glycolysis in muscles, is transported to the liver and converted to glucose, which then returns to the muscles and is cyclically metabolized back to lactate.
In oncology, the Warburg effect is the observation that most cancer use aerobic glycolysis for energy generation rather than the mechanisms used by non-cancerous cells. This observation was first published by Otto Heinrich Warburg, who was awarded the 1931 Nobel Prize in Physiology for his "discovery of the nature and mode of action of the respiratory enzyme". The existence of the Warburg effect has fuelled popular misconceptions that cancer can be treated by dietary reductions in sugar and carbohydrate.
Pyruvate dehydrogenase lipoamide kinase isozyme 1, mitochondrial is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the PDK1 gene. It codes for an isozyme of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK).
Pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency is a rare neurodegenerative disorder associated with abnormal mitochondrial metabolism. PDCD is a genetic disease resulting from mutations in one of the components of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC). The PDC is a multi-enzyme complex that plays a vital role as a key regulatory step in the central pathways of energy metabolism in the mitochondria. The disorder shows heterogeneous characteristics in both clinical presentation and biochemical abnormality.
Dihydrolipoyl transacetylase is an enzyme component of the multienzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. The pyruvate dehydrogenase complex is responsible for the pyruvate decarboxylation step that links glycolysis to the citric acid cycle. This involves the transformation of pyruvate from glycolysis into acetyl-CoA which is then used in the citric acid cycle to carry out cellular respiration.
Pyruvate carboxylase deficiency is an inherited disorder that causes lactic acid to accumulate in the blood. High levels of these substances can damage the body's organs and tissues, particularly in the nervous system. Pyruvate carboxylase deficiency is a rare condition, with an estimated incidence of 1 in 250,000 births worldwide. Type A of the disease appears to be much more common in some Algonkian Indian tribes in eastern Canada, while the type B disease is more present in European populations.
Phenformin is an antidiabetic drug from the biguanide class. It was marketed as DBI by Ciba-Geigy, but was withdrawn from most markets in the late 1970s due to a high risk of lactic acidosis, which was fatal in 50% of cases.
Pyruvate dehydrogenase is an enzyme that catalyzes the reaction of pyruvate and a lipoamide to give the acetylated dihydrolipoamide and carbon dioxide. The conversion requires the coenzyme thiamine pyrophosphate.
Pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase is a kinase enzyme which acts to inactivate the enzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase by phosphorylating it using ATP.
Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH or LD) is an enzyme found in nearly all living cells. LDH catalyzes the conversion of pyruvate to lactate and back, as it converts NAD+ to NADH and back. A dehydrogenase is an enzyme that transfers a hydride from one molecule to another.
Pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase isoform 2 (PDK2) also known as pyruvate dehydrogenase lipoamide kinase isozyme 2, mitochondrial is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the PDK2 gene. PDK2 is an isozyme of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase.
Pyruvate dehydrogenase (lipoamide) alpha 2, also known as pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 component subunit alpha, testis-specific form, mitochondrial or PDHE1-A type II, is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the PDHA2 gene.
Pyruvate dehydrogenase (lipoamide) beta, also known as pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 component subunit beta, mitochondrial or PDHE1-B is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the PDHB gene. The pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) complex is a nuclear-encoded mitochondrial multienzyme complex that catalyzes the overall conversion of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA and CO2, and provides the primary link between glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. The PDH complex is composed of multiple copies of three enzymatic components: pyruvate dehydrogenase (E1), dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase (E2) and lipoamide dehydrogenase (E3). The E1 enzyme is a heterotetramer of two alpha and two beta subunits. This gene encodes the E1 beta subunit. Mutations in this gene are associated with pyruvate dehydrogenase E1-beta deficiency.
Congenital lactic acidosis is a rare disease caused by mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that affect the ability of cells to use energy and cause too much lactic acid to build up in the body, a condition called lactic acidosis.
"If it starts going badly, who is following you before it gets out of control? By the time you realize your liver is failing, you're in big trouble", said Laura Shanner, Associate Professor of Health Ethics at the University of Alberta.
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