Vitamin B2 Riboflavin

Riboflavin ( vitamin B2 ) is part of the vitamin B group. It is the central component of the cofactors FAD and FMN and as such required for a variety of flavoprotein enzyme reactions including activation of other vitamins. It was formerly known as vitamin G.

Riboflavin is a yellow-orange solid substance with poor solubility in water. It is best known visually as it imparts the color to vitamin supplements and the yellow color to the urine of persons taking it.

The name “riboflavin” comes from “ribose” (the sugar whose reduced form, ribitol, forms part of its structure) and “flavin”, the ring-moiety which imparts the yellow color to the oxidized molecule (from Latin flavus, “yellow”). The reduced form, which occurs in metabolism along with the oxidized form, is colorless.