Nicotinic acid or niacin has received very considerable attention because of its prominence in the vitamin field. The production of this chemical compound has been the subject of intensive research which has led to the development of several chemical processes centering chiefly around the oxidation of nicotine, quinoline or beta-picoline by strong chemical oxidants like sulfuric and nitric acids. The current largescale production of nicotinic acid in this country relies principally on quinoline and betapicoline derived from coal tar because of price advantage over nicotine’which is laboriously extracted from tobacco.

There is an essential vitamin known as Vitamin B3. It is called ‘Niacin’, but it was first identified as ‘Nicotinic Acid’. In fact, the name ‘Niacin’ takes the first two letters of NIcontine and ACid and the last two of VitamIN. That trick was devised to dissociate niacin from nicotine. Was the disassociation just propaganda or are the two substances actually very different?

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