General Information Concerning Pyruvic Acid

Pyruvic Acid, or Pyruvate (CH₃COCOOH) is one of the most essential molecules to human life. It is at the center of one of the two most important chemical reactions in the universe, Cellular Respiration! As you may recall, from earlier years of biology studies, that respiration has two forms, aerobic and anaerobic, pyruvate is involved in both. During glycolysis, the first step of respiration glucose is converted into pyruvate, then if oxygen is present it is further converted in acetyl-CoA, and the cycle continues. If oxygen is not present then the process begins to end producing much less energy as it becomes lactic acid.


You may remember...

Polarity

Pyruvate is a polar molecule; this is due because of the bonds between the atoms as well as oxygen possessing two unshared electron pairs. In the molecule there are four types of bonds:

1. C-C which is nonpolar because its absolutely covalent(same electronegativity value)
2. H-+àC this is polar, Carbon has higher electronegativity so it takes more electrons, so arrow points to it, and it is very covalent (2.5-2.2=.3)
3. C-+-àO this is polar, Oxygen has higher value than carbon. Moderately Covalent (3.5-2.5=1)
4. H-+-àO polar, oxygen has higher value than hydrogen. Somewhat Covalent (3.5-2.2=1.3)

Also there is a particularly more negative area around the oxygens, not only because most of the electrons in bonding get pulled near their due to electronegativity, but also they have a total of 2 unshared electron pairs. Making that area more negative than the rest of the molecule, making pyruvate polar.

Also as an added note, pyruvic acid is water soluble, and since water is polar, that means pyruvate has to be polar as well, because only polar solutes can dissolve in polar solvents.

Forces of Attraction Working Between Two Pyruvate Molecules

A molecule of pyruvate would attract another molecule in three ways:

1. London Dispersion Forces- In all molecules polar or non-polar, the electrons in the molecule are shared amongst the atoms, they do this by being in constant motion around the atom. As a result of this at a given time there could be more electrons in a certain area and fewer electrons in an area in another molecule. This creates temporary dipoles, which serve as a very weak force of attraction.
2. Dipole-Dipole- In polar molecules there is an uneven distribution of charges in the molecule, creating a positive and negative pole. This then results in the positive end of one dipole molecule, being attracted to the negative end of another, creating a force of attraction.
3. Hydrogen Bonding- This is a special type of dipole-dipole that occurs between two polar molecules, with one possessing a hydrogen and another possessing a fluorine, nitrogen, or oxygen. In this attraction the O2, F2, or N2, in this case Oxygen will break its bond to the molecule and reform a covalent bond with the hydrogen of another then it will break and oxygen will re-bond to the molecule, this then keeps on happening creating a very strong bond.

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You must have this product!!!! No really its true, without pyruvate then life on this planet would die out and humans would cease to exist! Pyruvate is also a special transitional molecule in many other biochemical reactions. And also get this: Pyruvic acid is part of theory of how life on this planet even began to exist, it has been shown that Iron Sulfide under the right conditions will produce pyruvate! Making it possible for organisms to exist!