Ascorbic Acid

Save yourself from scurvy!

C6H8O6, otherwise known as Ascorbic Acid, is more commonly called Vitamin C.

Ascorbic Acid is found in many fresh vegetables and fruits, but citrus fruits have the highest quantity. Almost all mammals besides primates can produce it, so eating it or taking a supplement with Ascorbic Acid in it is not necessary for most species to eat. Scurvy, which is caused by a lack of Ascorbic Acid didn’t become common until the 15^th century, when people began to travel larger distances on ships and didn’t have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Ascorbic acid was discovered by James Lind in the 17^th century, curing the sailors of scurvy by having them eat foods sure as work and sauerkraut, which did not go rotten easily.

Make sure you're getting enough vitamin C in your diet!

Polarity:

Ascorbic acid is polar, mainly because of the OH bonds. O is in Row 6 and H is in row 1 making the difference large and strongly polar. Carbon and Oxygen bonds are also polar, along with the carbon hydrogen bonds found in Ascorbic Acid because the charges are not equally distributed.

Covalency:

Ascorbic acid is also covalent because they share electrons.

Forces that be:

The attraction forces that apply to Ascorbic Acid are; London Dispersion, Dipole-Dipole and Hydrogen Bonding. London Dispersion affects all molecules because of the ever moving electrons that create temporary positive and negative poles. Dipole-Dipole works because the molecule is polar and the positive pole of one C6H5O6 would attract the negative pole of another and vice versa. Finally, Hydrogen bonding is at work because of the presence of Hydrogen and Oxygen which would bond together when in a close distance.

A typical C6H8O6 would look like;

Red: Oxygen

Grey: Carbon

White: Hydrogen

Ascorbic Acid is only Vitamin C, when it is in a special shape called l-enantiomer, which is shown here. This form features a group of atoms clustered together in a ring, and an attached hydroxyl in the upper left corner.

The Dash Model for Ascorbic Acid looks like;

Chemists show the OH bond this way to make it more understandable, and easier to read. They know that OH have a single bond and CO have a single bond that would satisfy Oxygen's valence electron level.