Chemistry:Arabitol

Arabitol, or arabinitol, is a sugar alcohol. It can be formed by the reduction of either arabinose. Some organic acid tests check for the presence of D-arabitol, which may indicate overgrowth of intestinal microbes such as Candida albicans or other yeast/fungus species.

Arabitol and lyxitol are diastereomeric pentitols, differing in the configuration of two stereocenters. Arabitol was initially produced, soon after its discovery, through the catalytic reduction of D-arabinose or D-lixose. It can be obtained in two spatial forms: L-arabitol and D-arabitol.

Production

Industrial production of arabitol has traditionally relied on chemical reduction of oxidized arabinose derivatives, including lactones, arabinonic acid and lixonic acid. These processes require high temperatures (around 100 °C) and expensive catalysts, and generally involve extensive purification of the feedstock prior to catalytic reduction.

Biotechnological production routes have also been developed. L-arabitol can be obtained by microbial fermentation using organisms capable of metabolizing L-arabinose, including Candida tropicalis, Pichia stipitis and Debaryomyces hansenii, as well as genetically engineered strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Most reported studies have used batch cultivation with synthetic L-arabinose as substrate, although lignocellulosic hydrolysates such as sisal bagasse and soybean flour hydrolysates have also been evaluated.

Further reading

• Herman, Anna; Herman, Andrzej Przemysław (15 January 2022). "Could Candida Overgrowth Be Involved in the Pathophysiology of Autism?". Journal of Clinical Medicine 11 (2): 442. doi:10.3390/jcm11020442. PMID 35054136.