L-Threonine

L-Threonine is (2S,3R)-2-amino-3-hydroxybutanoic acid, CAS 72-19-5, molecular formula C4H9NO3 and molecular weight 119.12. It is one of the nine indispensable amino acids for humans, meaning the body cannot construct its carbon skeleton and the entire requirement must come from dietary or supplemental protein. Structurally it carries two chiral centres and a secondary hydroxyl on the beta carbon, which gives the molecule a strongly levorotatory specific rotation of -26.5 to -29.0 degrees at 20 degrees C on the dried basis - a figure that serves as the primary identity and stereochemical purity check, since the allo-threonine and D-threonine diastereomers rotate differently. Thovek supplies white to off-white crystals or free-flowing crystalline powder, soluble in water at roughly 90 g/L at 20 degrees C and practically insoluble in ethanol, diethyl ether and chloroform, melting with decomposition near 256 degrees C. Because threonine is indispensable and is a proteinogenic residue, its function in the diet is definitional rather than promotional: it is incorporated directly into polypeptide chains during translation, and it is a hydroxyl-bearing residue that serves as an O-glycosylation site in mucin-type glycoproteins. Thovek describes composition and established nutrient function only and makes no therapeutic or disease claim. In practical formulation terms, the pharmaceutical and food grade is held to the USP content range of 98.5 to 101.5 percent with loss on drying not more than 0.2 percent and lead not more than 5 mg/kg, which is the specification that parenteral and clinical nutrition compounders and free-form amino acid brands work to. Buyers should note that this is a genuinely different product from the feed-grade article, which is offered at 98.5 percent minimum against a feed specification rather than a pharmacopoeial monograph, and the two are not interchangeable across applications - order the grade the end use requires rather than the cheaper tonnage line. Industrial supply is entirely fermentative. The material is produced by submerged fermentation of plant-derived glucose using engineered Escherichia coli or Corynebacterium glutamicum production strains, after which the biomass is separated and the amino acid recovered by ion exchange, concentration and crystallisation. Nothing of animal origin enters the process, so the product is vegan and vegetarian suitable, non-bovine, non-porcine and non-marine, and it is free from milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean, gluten, peanut and tree nut. Because fermentation media formulations differ between producers and can include agricultural nitrogen sources, the full media declaration is stated on the specification sheet so that buyers can complete their own allergen and non-GMO risk assessment. Every consignment ships with a batch CoA, MSDS, allergen and origin statement, and Kosher or Halal certification where the destination market requires it.