The first two decades of vitamin E

This presentation reviews highlights of the first 20 years (1922-1942) of vitamin E. It begins with background information leading to identification of an antisterility factor for rats of both sexes and its acceptance into the vitamin family as vitamin E (1925). Research of the next 12 years revealed a multiplicity of deficiency manifestations: embryonic mortality, testis degeneration, encephalomalacia and exudative diathesis in the chick, and nutritional muscular dystrophy in avian and mammalian species. Toward the close of this period came the isolation of vitamin E from natural sources, determination of its empirical formula, and introduction of the designation alpha-tocopherol for vitamin E (1936). Within the next two years the structural formula of alpha-tocopherol was elucidated, its chemical synthesis accomplished, and its production from natural plant oils by molecular distillation was well established. The existence of other tocopherols with lesser degrees of biological activity became recognized. Also, the concurrent development of a chemical method for determining the vitamin E content of alpha-tocopherol in foods, body tissues and body fluids, which replaced the very laborious bioassay procedure, greatly facilitated later advances in knowledge of the distribution and nature of vitamin E.