acetaldehyde
Noun
Meaning
Acetic aldehyde. See Aldehyde.
Source: Webster's dictionarySynonyms
Hypernyms
Examples
About 25% of the ethanol alcohol humans drink is oxidized to acetaldehyde in this way.
As such, ethanol can be compared to an energy-bearing macronutrient, yielding approximately 7 kcal per gram consumed. citation However, the product of the first step of this breakdown, acetaldehyde, citation is more toxic than ethanol.
Acetaldehyde is far more toxic than ethanol itself, so the body then releases acetaldehyde dehydrogenase and glutathione to break down the acetaldehyde.
Ethanol is metabolised to acetaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), which is found in many tissues, including the gastric mucosa.
First, acrolein is formed in a Knoevenagel condensation from the acetaldehyde and formaldehyde.
In this process, the pyruvate is converted first to acetaldehyde and carbon dioxide, and then to ethanol.