Pyrimidine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound similar to benzene and pyridine, containing two nitrogen atoms at positions 1 and 3 of the six-member ring. (Wikipedia ) The group of compounds called pyrimidines are heterocyclic, six-membered, nitrogen-containing carbon ring structures, with uracil, cytosine and thymine being the basal structures of ribose-containing nucleosides (uridine, cytidine and thymidine respectively), or deoxyribose-containing deoxynucleosides, and their corresponding ribonucleotides or deoxyribonucleotides. Pyrimidines serve essential functions in metabolism as ribonucleotide bases in RNA (uracil and cytosine), and as deoxyribonucleotide bases in DNA (cytosine and thymine), and are linked by phosphodiester bridges to purine nucleotides in double-stranded DNA. Pyrimidines are synthesized de novo from simple precursors. (PMID 16098809 )
Belongs to the class of organic compounds known as pyrimidines and pyrimidine derivatives. Pyrimidines and pyrimidine derivatives are compounds containing a pyrimidne ring, which is a six-member aromatic heterocycle which consists of two nitrogen atoms (at positions 1 and 3) and four carbon atoms.
Loffler M, Fairbanks LD, Zameitat E, Marinaki AM, Simmonds HA: Pyrimidine pathways in health and disease. Trends Mol Med. 2005 Sep;11(9):430-7. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2005.07.003. [PubMed:16098809 ]
