Editing Chemistry of ascorbic acid (section)

==History==
<!--Please try to restrict this section to the history of the chemistry of the compound.  The medical aspects belong more properly to the [[scurvy]] and [[vitamin C]] articles.-->
The [[scurvy|antiscorbutic]] properties of certain foods were demonstrated in the 18th century by [[James Lind]]. In 1907, [[Axel Holst]] and [[Theodor Frølich]] discovered that the antiscorbutic factor was a water-soluble chemical substance, distinct from the one that prevented [[beriberi]]. Between 1928 and 1932, [[Albert Szent-Györgyi]] isolated a candidate for this substance, which he called "hexuronic acid", first from plants and later from animal adrenal glands. In 1932 [[Charles Glen King]] confirmed that it was indeed the antiscorbutic factor.

In 1933, sugar chemist [[Norman Haworth|Walter Norman Haworth]], working with samples of "hexuronic acid" that Szent-Györgyi had isolated from [[paprika]] and sent him in the previous year, deduced the correct structure and optical-isomeric nature of the compound, and in 1934 reported its first synthesis.<ref>[https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/WG/Views/Exhibit/narrative/szeged.html Story of Vitamin C's chemical discovery]. Profiles.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved on 2012-12-04.</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1 = Davies  | first1 = Michael B.  | last2 = Austin  | first2 = John  | last3 = Partridge  | first3 = David A. | title = Vitamin C: Its Chemistry and Biochemistry  | publisher = The Royal Society of Chemistry  | year = 1991  | page = 48  | isbn = 0-85186-333-7}}
</ref> In reference to the compound's antiscorbutic properties, Haworth and Szent-Györgyi proposed to rename it "a-scorbic acid" for the compound, and later specifically {{sm|l}}-ascorbic acid.<ref>{{citation | first1 = Joseph Louis | last1 = Svirbelf | first2 = Albert | last2 = Szent-Györgyi | author-link2 = Albert Szent-Györgyi | url = https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/WG/B/B/G/W/_/wgbbgw.pdf | title = The Chemical Nature Of Vitamin C | journal = Science | volume = 75 | issue = 1944 | pages = 357–8 | date = April 25, 1932| bibcode = 1932Sci....75..357K | doi = 10.1126/science.75.1944.357-a | pmid = 17750032 | s2cid = 33277683 }}. Part of the [[National Library of Medicine]] collection. Accessed January 2007</ref>  Because of their work, in 1937 two [[Nobel Prize]]s: in Chemistry and in Physiology or Medicine were awarded to Haworth and Szent-Györgyi, respectively.