Abstract Background The application of traditional vitamin C (VC) and sodium acetate (SA) in aquafeeds is hampered by significant limitations. VC suffers from poor stability during feed processing and storage, as well as low bioavailability. SA is highly hygroscopic, thermally unstable, and rapidly absorbed, leading to short duration of action. This study aimed to design, synthesize, and evaluate tetraacetyl vitamin C ester (TVCE), a novel VC-acetic acid conjugate, as a superior alternative. Results TVCE was successfully synthesized via a one-step acetylation reaction with high yield (90%) and purity (> 95%). By optimizing the distillation recovery process, the by-product acetic acid from the reaction was efficiently recovered and recycled. TVCE demonstrated excellent lipophilicity, remarkable thermal stability (withstanding 160 °C), and was efficiently hydrolyzed by pancreatic lipase in simulated intestinal fluid, indicating its function as a prodrug. In zebrafish, TVCE enhanced systemic antioxidant capacity (increasing superoxide dismutase activity and total antioxidant capacity, while decreasing malondialdehyde content) comparably or superiorly to sodium VC-2-phosphate, even at a lower VC-equivalent dosage. In tilapia, dietary inclusion of TVCE, particularly at 0.1%, significantly improved the weight gain rate and survival rate ( P 2" outcome. These findings establish TVCE as a promising multi-functional nutritional precursor with significant application potential in aquatic feeds.
Li et al. (Thu,) studied this question.