| Description | Beta-amyrin, also known as amyrin or (3beta)-olean-12-en-3-ol, is a member of the class of compounds known as triterpenoids. Triterpenoids are terpene molecules containing six isoprene units. Thus, beta-amyrin is considered to be an isoprenoid lipid molecule. Beta-amyrin is practically insoluble (in water) and an extremely weak acidic compound (based on its pKa). Beta-amyrin can be synthesized from oleanane. Beta-amyrin is also a parent compound for other transformation products, including but not limited to, erythrodiol, glycyrrhetaldehyde, and 24-hydroxy-beta-amyrin. Beta-amyrin can be found in a number of food items such as thistle, pepper (c. baccatum), wakame, and endive, which makes beta-amyrin a potential biomarker for the consumption of these food products. The amyrins are three closely related natural chemical compounds of the triterpene class. They are designated α-amyrin (ursane skeleton), β-amyrin (oleanane skeleton) and δ-amyrin. Each is a pentacyclic triterpenol with the chemical formula C30H50O. They are widely distributed in nature and have been isolated from a variety of plant sources such as epicuticular wax. In plant biosynthesis, α-amyrin is the precursor of ursolic acid and β-amyrin is the precursor of oleanolic acid. All three amyrins occur in the surface wax of tomato fruit. α-Amyrin is found in dandelion coffee . |
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| IUPAC Name | (3S,4aR,6aR,6bS,8aR,12aR,14aR,14bR)-4,4,6a,6b,8a,11,11,14b-octamethyl-1,2,3,4,4a,5,6,6a,6b,7,8,8a,9,10,11,12,12a,14,14a,14b-icosahydropicen-3-ol |
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| InChI Identifier | InChI=1S/C30H50O/c1-25(2)15-16-27(5)17-18-29(7)20(21(27)19-25)9-10-23-28(6)13-12-24(31)26(3,4)22(28)11-14-30(23,29)8/h9,21-24,31H,10-19H2,1-8H3/t21-,22-,23+,24-,27+,28-,29+,30+/m0/s1 |
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