Pimelic acid is the organic compound with the formula HO2C(CH2)5CO2H which has been synthesized from cyclohexanone and from salicylic acid. In the former route, the additional carbon is supplied by dimethyloxalate, which reacts with the enolate.
This acid (heptanedioic acid), from the Greek pimelh (pimele fat), as adipic acid, was isolated from oxidized fats. It was obtained in 1884 by Ganttner F et al. as a product of ricinoleic acid (hydroxylated oleic acid) from castor oil.
The major uses of pimelic acid are in plasticizers and
polymers.
Pimelic Acid is a metabolite found in four biofluids from dairy cows that may be used as biomarkers of milk.
ChEBI: An alpha,omega-dicarboxylic acid that is pentane with two carboxylic acid groups at positions C-1 and C-5.
Journal of the American Chemical Society, 78, p. 3425, 1956
DOI: 10.1021/ja01595a044Organic Syntheses, Coll. Vol. 2, p. 531, 1943
Synthesis, p. 54, 1988
Crystallise the acid from water or from *benzene containing 5% diethyl ether. [Beilstein 1 IV 2003.]
