Cholic acid's steroid-based amphiphilic structure, bearing three hydroxyl groups on one face of the ring system, gives it strong fat-emulsifying and micelle-forming properties. Clinically, it is used as replacement therapy for patients with bile acid synthesis disorders, while in the laboratory it serves as a mild ionic detergent for membrane protein solubilization and as a precursor for synthesizing related bile-acid conjugates.
Cholic Acid is the principal primary bile acid synthesized from cholesterol in the liver, used pharmaceutically as an FDA-approved bile-acid-synthesis-disorder therapy and as a surfactant/detergent reagent in biochemical research and drug formulation.
| Chemical Name | Cholic Acid |
| CAS Number | 81-25-4 |
| IUPAC Name | 3a,7a,12a-Trihydroxy-5ß-cholan-24-oic acid |
| Molecular Formula | C24H40O5 |
| Molecular Weight | 408.57 g/mol g/mol |
FDA-approved replacement therapy for pediatric and adult patients with inborn errors of bile acid synthesis.
Non-denaturing ionic detergent used to extract and study membrane-bound proteins.
Starting material for synthesizing glycocholic acid, taurocholic acid, and related conjugated bile salts.
Used in nutrition and lipid-metabolism research as a model bile acid for micelle formation studies.
Cell. Mol. Life Sci.
Biochim. Biophys. Acta
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