Orotic acid is a pyrimidinemonocarboxylic acid that is uracil bearing a carboxy substituent at position C-6.
Definition
Orotic acid is a pyrimidinemonocarboxylic acid that is uracil bearing a carboxy substituent at position C-6. It has a role as a metabolite, a mouse metabolite and an Escherichia coli metabolite. It is functionally related to a uracil. It is a conjugate acid of an orotate.
Source: PubChem
US FDA substance register · UNII 61H4T033E5 · registered name Orotic acid · single chemical substance
Cosmetic roles
Safety & regulatory references
Not classified under Korea’s toxic-substance GHS list · existing chemical substance
More data — names, identifiers, properties, test records, literature
Official labels & definitions
JCIA labelling name オロット酸: 本品は、次の化学式で表される複素環式化合物である。
Source: JCIA labelling names (Japan)
Names & identifiers
- CAS No.chemical registry number
- 65-86-1
- EC No.EU chemical inventory number
- 200-619-8
- DTXSIDUS EPA chemical ID
- DTXSID0025814
- DTXCIDUS EPA compound ID
- DTXCID005814
- IUPAC
- 2,6-Dihydroxypyrimidine-4-carboxylic acid
- Molecular formula
- C5H4N2O4
- Molecular weight
- 156.097 g/mol
Measured properties
- Appearance
- Orotic acid appears as white crystals or crystalline powder. (NTP, 1992) · Solid
- Melting point
- 653 to 655 °F (NTP, 1992) · 345.5 °C
- Solubility
- less than 1 mg/mL at 68 °F (NTP, 1992) · 1820 mg/L (at 18 °C)
- Dissociation constant
- pKa1 = 2.07, pKa2 = 9.45
- Colour
- white
- Melting/freezing point
- 345.5 ℃
- Vapour pressure
- 0.0000000103 ㎜Hg (@ 25 ℃, est.)
- Water solubility
- 1820 ㎎/ℓ (@ 18 ℃)
- Vapour density
- 5.39
- n-Octanol/water partition coefficient (Kow)
- -0.83
- Molecular weight
- 156.11
Values measured on the substance itself. The KOSHA data are a reference for writing and reviewing safety data sheets, not a specification for a commercial raw material.
Source: PubChem · KOSHA safety data sheets (Korea)
What products actually use it for
What the 1 products reported to the US EPA with this ingredient use it for. Products outside cosmetics are included, so the top few rows are its main uses.
- Softener and conditioner1
Source: US EPA CompTox dashboard
Related literature
- Bioactive compounds in sheep milk: The therapeutic potential of CLA, lactoferrin, and orotic acid in skin cancer treatment · 2025
- High-level and -yield orotic acid production in Escherichia coli through systematic modular engineering and "Chaos to Order Cycles" fermentation. · 2024
- Importance of ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency in small intestine for urinary orotic acid excretion: analysis of OTC-deficient spf-ash mice with OTC transgene. · 1995
- Orotic acid, nucleotide-pool imbalance, and liver-tumor promotion: a possible mechanism for the mitoinhibitory effects of orotic acid in isolated rat hepatocytes. · 1992
- Relationship between DNA topoisomerase I activity and DNA synthesis in cultured hepatocytes: effects of orotic acid. · 1991
Linked databases 20
- Australian Industrial Chemicals Inventory (AICIS)
- ChEBI
- ChEMBL
- China inventory of existing ingredients (IECIC)
- EU CosIng ingredient list 2
- JCIA labelling names (Japan)
- Korea Cosmetic Association ingredient dictionary
- Korea toxic substances GHS register (NIER)
- KOSHA safety data sheets (Korea)
- MFDS (Korea) cosmetic ingredient register 2
- NIST Chemistry WebBook
- PubChem 2
- Tlooto literature search 2 3 4 5
- UniChem cross-reference IDs
- US EPA CompTox dashboard 2
- US EPA DSSTox chemical database
- US FDA substance registration (GSRS)
- US FDA Unique Ingredient Identifier (UNII)
- Wikidata
- Wikipedia · Korean · English · Japanese · Chinese