Nicotinamide Riboside Chloride (NR)

Nicotinamide riboside chloride is the stable, isolable salt of nicotinamide riboside, a pyridine nucleoside form of vitamin B3. The chloride salt is the trade article: molecular formula C11H15ClN2O5, molecular weight 290.70, CAS 23111-00-4, EC 807-820-5, IUPAC name 1-[(2R,3R,4S,5R)-3,4-dihydroxy-5-(hydroxymethyl)oxolan-2-yl]pyridin-1-ium-3-carboxamide chloride. The free nicotinamide riboside cation carries CAS 1341-23-7, formula C11H15N2O5+ and molecular weight 255.25, which fixes the salt factor every formulator needs: 100 mg of nicotinamide riboside chloride supplies 88 mg of nicotinamide riboside. It differs from nicotinamide mononucleotide by one phosphate group - NR is the nucleoside, NMN the nucleotide - and the two are separate products with separate specifications, separate dose bases and separate regulatory histories. The commercial article is chemically synthesised, which is how the EU novel food dossier describes it, so it is non-animal, vegan and vegetarian suitable. Two handling facts drive formulation design. First, the salt is strongly hygroscopic and the EU specification caps water at 2%, so it must be blended, filled and packed under controlled humidity with desiccant in the finished pack. Second, published stability work shows complete thermal breakdown above 130 °C, degradation following approximately pseudo-first-order kinetics with the rate roughly doubling for each 10 °C rise, and faster loss at neutral pH 7.4 than under acidic conditions. In practice that favours dry blends, low-moisture two-piece capsules, chews and acidic powdered beverage bases, and argues against hot-melt processing, high-moisture bars and neutral ready-to-drink liquids without a stability study. One allergen point deserves care rather than copying. Nicotinamide riboside occurs naturally in cow and human milk, and buyers occasionally carry a milk declaration across from that fact. It does not apply here: the article supplied is synthetic, contains no dairy-derived material and must not be labelled as a milk allergen. On regulatory status, nicotinamide riboside chloride is an authorised EU novel food under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/16, with uses extended by Regulation (EU) 2022/1160; the Union list specification requires not less than 90% nicotinamide riboside chloride, predominantly the beta form, a white to light brown powder, water not more than 2%, and sets maximum use of 300 mg/day for adults and 230 mg/day for pregnant and lactating women, with the labelling designation 'Nicotinamide riboside chloride'. The five-year data protection attached to the original applicant expired on 20 February 2025, so any operator may now place conforming material on the EU market. In the United States it is the subject of GRAS notice GRN 635 and of new dietary ingredient notifications filed in 2015 and 2017, and it holds a Canadian Natural Health Product licence and an Australian TGA listing. Composition and nutrient chemistry only are described here; no health or disease claim is made.