Fluoroacetic acid is a harmful
metabolite of some
fluorine-containing
drugs (
median lethal dose, LD50 = 10 mg/kg in
humans). The most common metabolic sources of fluoroacetic acid are
fluoroamines and
fluoroethers. Fluoroacetic acid can disrupt the
Krebs cycle. The
metabolite of fluoroacetic acid is
fluorocitric acid, which is very
toxic because it is not processable using
aconitase in the Krebs cycle (where fluorocitrate takes place of
citrate as the
substrate). The
enzyme is
inhibited and the cycle stops working. In contrast with fluoroacetic acid,
difluoroacetic acid and
trifluoroacetic acid are far less toxic. Its
pKa is approx. 2.6, in contrast to 1.3 and 0.5 for the respective di- and trifluoroacetic acid. ==Uses==