R-Lipoic acid was first discovered in 1937 by Snell and coworkers, who found that certain bacteria needed a compound from potato extract for growth.
Lipoic acid gained attention in the late 1940s as a growth factor and essential cofactor for pyruvate oxidation in certain microorganisms.
Based on these properties, trivial names including acetate-replacing factor, pyruvate oxidation factor, and protogen A were used to indicate the biologically active substance.
The combined efforts of Lester Reed and the Eli Lilly industrial group led to the first isolation of crystalline acetate-replacing factor in the early 1950s. They purified 30 mg of a yellow crystalline substance from 100 kg of liver residue. In the following years the molecular structure was elucidated.
An antioxidant action of lipoic acid was proposed for the first time by Rosenberg and Culik in 1959. In Arch Biochem Biophysics (1959;80:86-93), they observed that lipoic acid reduced scurvy in vitamin C –depleted guinea pigs and prevented vitamin E deficiency in rats.
History of lipoic acid
