E626 (Guanylic acid) is a chemical compound produced by solvent extraction. In the human body, it is distributed in the pancreas and glands. It is a 3'-terminal nucleotide of oligonucleotides of different lengths (1). Industrially it is obtained by dehydrolysis of guanine, d-ribose and phosphoric acid. It is readily available in nature in vegetables, fungi and plants such as Ardisia crenata and others of the Primulaceae family. It can also be obtained from tomatoes (2).

It appears as a white powder soluble in acetic acid.

What it is used for and where

Food

Dietary nucleotide ingredient listed in the European food additives list as E626 as a flavour enhancer to improve the taste of food and beverages.

Safety

Guanylic acid should be avoided by people suffering from asthma and gout (3). 

• Molecular Formula  C₁₀H₁₄N₅O₈P  
• Molecular Weight   363.22  
• CAS  85-32-5
• UNII   16597955EP 
• EC Number   201-598-8

References_____________________________________________________________________

(1) Bezborodova, S.I., Markelova, N.Y. and Gulayeva, V.I., 1975. Specificity of extracellular alkaline RNAase from Penicillium chrysogenum 152A. Biokhimiia (Moscow, Russia), 40(3), pp.592-597.

(2) Ando, A. and SAKAGUCHI, Y.R., 2015. Production of guanylic acid by cooking of tomato. 日本食品科学工学会誌, 62(8), pp.417-421.

(3) Craciun, D., Modra, D. and Isvoran, A., 2015, December. ADME-Tox profiles of some food additives and pesticides. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1694, No. 1, p. 040007). AIP Publishing LLC.