hypotaurine

Also known as Cystaminesulfinic acid, 2-Aminoethanesulfinate, 2-Aminoethylsulfinate, 2-aminoethane-1-sulfinic acid, Cystaminesulfinate, 2-Aminoethylsulfinic acid, 2-Amino-Ethanesulfinate, 2-Amino-Ethanesulfinic acid

Hypotaurine is a sulfinic acid that is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of taurine. Like taurine, it also acts as an endogenous neurotransmitter via action on the glycine receptors. It is an osmolyte with antioxidant properties.

In the Vinony graph

Within Vinony's link graph, hypotaurine is referenced by 299 other articles, and connects out to ginkgolide, picrotoxin and γ-aminobutyric acid.

Vinony files it under Aminoethyl compounds, Chembox image size set and ECHA InfoCard ID from Wikidata.

Its subject is documented across 15 Wikipedia language editions.

Chemical data

Formula: C2H7NO2S
Molecular weight: 109.15 g/mol
IUPAC name: 2-azaniumylethanesulfinate
SMILES: C(CS(=O)[O-])[NH3+]
InChIKey: VVIUBCNYACGLLV-UHFFFAOYSA-N
XLogP: -2.1
Polar surface area: 87 Å²
H-bond donors: 1
H-bond acceptors: 3
Formal charge: 0

via PubChem

Drug data · ChEMBL

Molecule type: Small molecule

via ChEMBL · EBI

Research

1,249 papers

Hypotaurine Reduces Glucose-Mediated Vascular Calcification.Acta physiologica (Oxford, England) · 2025
Role of Hypotaurine in Protection against UVA-Induced Damage in Keratinocytes.Photochemistry and photobiology · 2021
Hamster spermatozoa incorporate hypotaurine via TauT for self-protection.Reproduction (Cambridge, England) · 2024
Multiple sclerosis patients exhibit oral dysbiosis with decreased early colonizers and lower hypotaurine level.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025
ADO/hypotaurine: a novel metabolic pathway contributing to glioblastoma development.Cell death discovery · 2021

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Subclass of: chemical compound
Mass: 109.019749

Show 5 more facts

Commons category: Hypotaurine
chemical formula: C₂H₇NO₂S
canonical SMILES: C(CS(=O)O)N
found in taxon: tomato
subject has role: antioxidant

Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

~1 min read

Encyclopedic overview

1 sections

Contents

References

Hypotaurine is derived from cysteine (and homocysteine). In mammals, the biosynthesis of hypotaurine from cysteine occurs in the pancreas. In the cysteine sulfinic acid pathway, cysteine is first oxidized to its sulfinic acid, catalyzed by the enzyme cysteine dioxygenase. Cysteine sulfinic acid, in turn, is decarboxylated by sulfinoalanine decarboxylase to form hypotaurine. Hypotaurine is enzymatically oxidized to yield taurine by hypotaurine dehydrogenase.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “hypotaurine” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.