Purification Methods

This pentol, which occurs in lichens and fungi, is purified by recrystallisation from 90% EtOH or MeOH. [Ashina & Yamagita Chem Ber 67 801 1934, derivarives: Nakagawa et al. Bull Chem Soc Jpn 40 2150 1967, Prince & Reichstein Helv Chim Acta 20 101 1937, Hough & Theobald Methods in Carbohydrate Chemistry I 94 1962, Academic Press, Beilstein 1 IV 2832.]

Definition

ChEBI: D-arabinitol is the D-enantiomer of arabinitol. It is an enantiomer of a L-arabinitol. It is a metabolite found in the aging mouse brain.

Biotechnological Applications

D-arabinitol detectionAnother approach to the diagnosis of invasive candidosis involves the detection in serum or urine of a metabolite, D-arabinitol, which is produced by most of the medically important Candida species with the exception of C. krusei and perhaps C. glabrata. Various methods have been developed to measure D-arabinitol concentrations in human serum and urine, including enzymatic-fluorometric and enzymatic-colorimetric procedures. Because increased levels of arabinitol are also found in human body fluids when renal function is impaired, the results are reported as the D-arabinitol- creatinine ratio. Although several large studies have demonstrated that patients with candidaemia have ele- vated serum D-arabinitol- creatinine ratios, this approach has still to achieve widespread clinical use.