Nomenclature of Carotenoids

These Rules are as close as possible to the published version [see Pure Appl. Chem, 1974, 41, 405-431 Copyright IUPAC and IUBMB; reproduced with the permission of IUPAC and IUBMB]. If you need to cite these rules please quote these references as their source. A PDF of the printed version is available.

A provisional version of these Rules was published in Biochem. J., 1972, 127, 741-752; Biochemistry, 1971, 10, 4827-4837; Eur. J. Biochem., 1972, 25, 397-408; J. Biol. Chem., 1972, 247, 2633-2643; IUPAC Information Bulletin Appendix No. 19 (February 1972); Biochemical Nomenclature and Related Documents, 2nd edition, Portland Press, 1992, pages 226-236.

Amendments to the provisional Rules incorporated into the final document were published in Biochem. J., 1975, 151, 5-7; Biochemistry, 1975, 14, 1803; Eur. J. Biochem., 1975, 57, 317-318; Biochemical Nomenclature and Related Documents, 2nd edition, Portland Press, 1992, pages 237-238.

Any comments should be sent to any member of the Committee.

Definitive Rules for the Nomenclature of Carotenoids were approved at the IUPAC 14th Conference (London, 1947; Comptes Rendus, pp 142-143) and the 16th Conference (New York, 1951; Comptes Rendus, p 110). Many recent developments in the carotenoid field have resulted in situations that are not covered adequately by the existing rules; since these rules were adopted, the number of known naturally occurring carotenoids has increased from some 80 to about 300. In 1965, the IUPAC Commission on Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry (CNOC) and the IUPAC-IUB Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature (CBN) approved the formation of a subcommittee to revise the carotenoid rules. The subcommittee consisted of Professor W. Klyne (representative of CBN; and Chairman), Professor S. Veibel (representative of CNOC), Professor C. Bodea, Professor T. W. Goodwin, Dr F. Ham, Dr O. Isler, Dr S. Liaaen-Jensen, Dr W. Powell, Dr W. Quackenbush, Professor N. A. Sørensen, and Professor B. C. L. Weedon.

The subcommittee met in Trondheim in 1966 and considered a number of approaches to the naming of carotenoids. Subsequently the set of proposals selected by the Trondheim subcommittee was refined by an ad hoc 'working party' (S. Liaaen-Jensen, B. C. L. Weedon, W. Klyne and L. C. Cross) to give a set of tentative rules for the nomenclature of this group of naturally occurring chemical compounds that was in accord with both the general traditions Of biochemical usage and principles of organic chemical nomenclature.

These rules are now issued in revised form jointly by the IUPAC Commission on Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry and the IUPAC-IUB Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature.

Contents

1. Definition of class of compound
2. The stem name
3. Specific names; end-group designations
4. Numbering of carotenoid hydrocarbons
5. Nor carotenoids and seco carotenoids
6. Changes in hydrogenation level
7. Oxygenated derivatives
8. Numbering of oxygenated derivatives
9. retro Nomenclature
10. Apo nomenclature
11. Higher carotenoids
12. Stereochemistry
13. Trivial names
References.
Appendix: Naturally occurring carotenoids having trivial names (compiled by Drs O. Straub and H Gutmann of F. Hoffmann-La Roche & Co. Limited, Basle)