The key difference between adenosine and adenine is that adenosine is a nucleoside, whereas adenine is a nucleobase.
The terms adenosine and adenine are related to biological systems since these are components in nucleic acid. Therefore, these components are present in the cells of the body.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Adenosine
3. What is Adenine
4. Side by Side Comparison – Adenosine vs Adenine in Tabular Form
5. Summary
What is Adenosine?
Adenosine is a naturally occurring nucleoside which is present in various forms in all cells of the body. It is also used as a medication to treat abnormally fast heart rhythms. When considering the structure of this compound, it is a purine nucleoside which contains an adenine molecule attached to a ribose sugar molecule. Derivatives of adenosine are common in nature; for example, ATP or adenosine triphosphate.
This nucleoside can act as a neuromodulator. This means it can regulate diverse populations of neurons. Among the medicinal uses of adenosine, treating abnormal heart rhythms is the most common application. We call this disease SVT or supraventricular tachycardia. Also, adenosine is useful as an adjunct to thallium in patients who are unable to undergo stress testing with exercises. The chemical formula of adenosine is C10H13N5O4 while its molar mass is 267.24 g/mol.
What is Adenine?
Adenine is a purine nucleobase. That means; it is a purine derivative. It is important as one of the four nucleobases that build up the structure of a nucleic acid. Generally, we denote this molecule as A. The other three nucleobases that make up the structure of nucleic acid are guanine, cytosine and thymine. Moreover, its chemical formula is C5H5N5, and its molar mass is 135.13 g/mol.
There are several tautomers of adenine, and we often consider them as equivalent. Moreover, this nucleobase forms from the nucleotide inosine monophosphate.
What is the Difference Between Adenosine and Adenine?
Adenosine is a naturally occurring nucleoside which is present in various forms in all cells of the body. Adenine is a purine nucleobase. Therefore, the key difference between adenosine and adenine is that adenosine is a nucleoside, whereas adenine is a nucleobase. When considering the chemical formula of each compound, adenosine has C10H13N5O4 as the formula while adenine is C5H5N5. Moreover, adenosine a combination of adenine and ribose sugar molecule while adenine occurs in several tautomer forms. So, this is also a significant difference between adenosine and adenine.
Summary – Adenosine vs Adenine
Adenosine is a naturally occurring nucleoside which is present in various forms in all cells of the body whereas adenine is a purine nucleobase. Therefore, the key difference between adenosine and adenine is that adenosine is a nucleoside, whereas adenine is a nucleobase.
Reference:
1. Brittain, Harry G. “Profiles of Drug Substances, Excipients, and Related Methodology.” Analytical Profiles of Drug Substances and Excipients, 2002, pp. 1–5., doi:10.1016/s1075-6280(02)2
Image Courtesy:
1. “Adenosin” By NEUROtiker – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Adenine” By Pepemonbu – Made with BkChem and Inkscape (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia