**1. Introduction**

There are two forms of vitamin C, the *L*-ascorbic acid and dehydroascorbic acid. Unlike most animals and plants, humans cannot synthesize this ubiquitous vitamin due to the defective gene encoding for *L*-gulonolactone oxidase, the catalyst for the final step of vitamin C synthesis [1]. Vitamin C is widely known for its role in prevention of scurvy, the Latin name for "scorbutus" [2], as well as the origin of the word "ascorbic" [3]. Scurvy is a clinical manifestation of vitamin C deficiency.

Vitamin C serves as a water-soluble vitamin in addition to several other functions, owing to its ability to donate electrons, and gets reduced to the ascorbic acid radical in the process [4, 5]. It serves as a co-factor to about 8 enzymes involved in hormonal synthesis, wound healing, or collagen synthesis as well as immune boosting [5].
