Mesaconic acid

Mesaconic acid is one of several isomeric carboxylic acids obtained from citric acid. Is used as a fire retardant, recent studies revealed this acid is a competitive inhibitor of fumarate reduction.

History
This acid was studied for the first time by Dutch chemist Jacobus H. van 't Hoff in 1874. Later American biochemist Horace Albert Barker and his team successfully isolated this acid from fermenting bacterium Clostridium tetanomorphum in 1950s. Further studies led him to discover this organic compound was involved in vitamin B12 coenzymes synthesis.