Anthranilic acid is the organic compound

Organic compound

An organic compound is any member of a large class of gaseous, liquid, or solid chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. For historical reasons discussed below, a few types of carbon-containing compounds such as carbides, carbonates, simple oxides of carbon, and cyanides, as well as the...

 with the formula

Chemical formula

A chemical formula or molecular formula is a way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound....

 C₆H₄(NH₂)COOH. This amino acid is a white solid when pure, although commercial samples may appear yellow. The molecule consists of a benzene ring with two adjacent functional groups, a carboxylic acid

Carboxylic acid

Carboxylic acids are organic acids characterized by the presence of at least one carboxyl group. The general formula of a carboxylic acid is R-COOH, where R is some monovalent functional group...

 and an amine

Amine

Amines are organic compounds and functional groups that contain a basic nitrogen atom with a lone pair. Amines are derivatives of ammonia, wherein one or more hydrogen atoms have been replaced by a substituent such as an alkyl or aryl group. Important amines include amino acids, biogenic amines,...

. It is sometimes referred to as vitamin

Vitamin

A vitamin is an organic compound required as a nutrient in tiny amounts by an organism. In other words, an organic chemical compound is called a vitamin when it cannot be synthesized in sufficient quantities by an organism, and must be obtained from the diet. Thus, the term is conditional both on...

 L.
it has a sweetish taste, it is flammable and will produce nitrogen oxide fumes when burning, it may be sensitive to prolonged exposure to air and light.

Biological role

Anthranilic acid is biosynthesized from chorismic acid

Chorismic acid

Chorismic acid, more commonly known as its anionic form chorismate, is an important biochemical intermediate in plants and microorganisms...

. It is the precursor to the amino acid

Amino acid

Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side-chain that varies between different amino acids. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen...

 tryptophan

Tryptophan

Tryptophan is one of the 20 standard amino acids, as well as an essential amino acid in the human diet. It is encoded in the standard genetic code as the codon UGG...

 via the attachment of phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate

Phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate

Phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate is a pentosephosphate.It is formed from ribose 5-phosphate by the enzyme ribose-phosphate diphosphokinase.It plays a role in transferring phospho-ribose groups in several reactions:...

 to the amine group.

Uses

Anthranilic acid is used as an intermediate for production of dye

Dye

A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....

s, pigment

Pigment

A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light.Many materials selectively absorb...

s, and saccharin

Saccharin

Saccharin is an artificial sweetener. The basic substance, benzoic sulfilimine, has effectively no food energy and is much sweeter than sucrose, but has a bitter or metallic aftertaste, especially at high concentrations...

. It and its ester

Ester

Esters are chemical compounds derived by reacting an oxoacid with a hydroxyl compound such as an alcohol or phenol. Esters are usually derived from an inorganic acid or organic acid in which at least one -OH group is replaced by an -O-alkyl group, and most commonly from carboxylic acids and...

s are used in preparing perfume

Perfume

Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and/or aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces "a pleasant scent"...

s to imitate jasmine and orange, pharmaceuticals (loop diuretics e.g. furosemide) and UV-absorber as well as corrosion inhibitor

Corrosion inhibitor

A corrosion inhibitor is a chemical compound that, when added to a liquid or gas, decreases the corrosion rate of a material, typically a metal or an alloy. The effectiveness of a corrosion inhibitor depends on fluid composition, quantity of water, and flow regime...

s for metals and mold inhibitors in soya sauce.

Anthranilic acid can be used in organic synthesis

Organic synthesis

Organic synthesis is a special branch of chemical synthesis and is concerned with the construction of organic compounds via organic reactions. Organic molecules can often contain a higher level of complexity compared to purely inorganic compounds, so the synthesis of organic compounds has...

 to generate the benzyne intermediate.

It is also a DEA List I Chemical

DEA list of chemicals

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration maintains lists regarding not only the classification of illicit drugs . It also maintains List I of chemicals and List II of chemicals, which contain chemicals which are used to manufacture the controlled substances/illicit drugs...

 because of its use in making the now-widely outlawed euphoric sedative drug methaqualone

Methaqualone

Methaqualone is a sedative-hypnotic drug that is similar in effect to barbiturates, a general central nervous system depressant. The sedative-hypnotic activity was first noted by Indian researchers in the 1950s and in 1962 methaqualone itself was patented in the US by Wallace and Tiernan...

(Quaalud, Mandrax).