How did they decide what letter designations to give to vitamins?

Question

Was it just arbitrary or is there some reasoning to why Vitamin A is vitamin A and B vitamins are all listed as B vitamins? I thought maybe because of the order in which they were discovered but it turns out they have been calling Vitamin C, "Vitamin C" long before they synthesized Vitamin A, how the h**l does that make sense?

Answer 1

If You really want to know then the story is something like this :

In 1905, the first scientist to determine that if special factors (vitamins) were removed from food disease occurred, was Englishmen, William Fletcher. Doctor Fletcher was researching the causes of the disease Beriberi when he discovered that eating unpolished rice prevented Beriberi and eating polished rice did not. William Fletcher believed that there were special nutrients contained in the husk of the rice.

In 1906, English biochemist Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins also discovered that certain food factors were important to health. In 1912, Polish scientist Cashmir Funk named the special nutritional parts of food as a "vitamine" after "vita" meaning life  and "amine" from compounds found in the thiamine he isolated from rice husks. Vitamine was later shortened to vitamin. Together, Hopkins and Funk formulated the vitamin hypothesis of deficiency disease - that a lack of vitamins could make you sick.

Vitamin A

Elmer V. McCollum and M. Davis discovered vitamin A during 1912–1914. In 1913, Yale researchers, Thomas Osborne and Lafayette Mendel discovered  that butter contained a fat-soluble nutrient soon known as vitamin A. Vitamin A was first synthesized in 1947.

B

Elmer V. McCollum discovered sometimes around 1915–1916.

B1

Casimir Funk discovered in 1912.

B2

D. T. Smith, E. G. Hendrick discovered B2 in 1926.

Max Tishler invented methods for synthesizing the essential vitamin B2.

Niacin

American, Conrad Elvehjem discovered in 1937.

Folic acid

Lucy Wills discovered in 1933.

B6

Paul Gyorgy discovered in 1934.

Vitamin C

In 1747, Scottish naval surgeon James Lind discovered that a " nutrient " (NOTE: it was considered a " nutrient " and not actually named vitamin C) in citrus foods prevented scurvy. It was rediscovered by Norwegians, A. Hoist and T. Froelich in 1912. Vitamin C was the first vitamin to be artificially synthesized in 1935. A process invented by Dr. Tadeusz Reichstein, of the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich.

Vitamin D

In 1922, Edward Mellanby discovered Vitamin D while researching a disease called rickets.

Vitamin E

In 1922, University of California researchers, Herbert Evans and Katherine Bishop discovered vitamin E in green leafy vegetables.

Coenzyme Q10

According to physician, Dr. Erika Schwartz MD in a report called Coenzyme Q10 - The Energizing Antioxidant issued by Kyowa Hakko USA, "Coenzyme Q10 was discovered by Dr. Frederick Crane, a plant physiologist at the University of Wisconsin Enzyme Institute, in 1957. Utilizing specialized fermentation technology developed by Japanese manufacturers, cost-effective production of CoQ10 began in the mid-1960s. To this day, fermentation remains the dominant production method around the globe."

In 1958, Dr. D.E. Wolf under Dr. Karl Folkers PhD (Folkers leading a team of researchers at Merck Laboratories), first described the chemical structure of coenzyme Q10. Dr. Folkers later received, the 1986 Priestly Medal from the American Chemical Society for his research on coenzyme Q10.

Wish You All The Best !