Product Name: Thymosin α1
Molecular Weight: 3051.33344 [g/mol]
Molecular Formula: C₁₂₈H₂₁₆N₃₂O₅₁S
XLogP3-AA: -22
H-Bond Donor: 46
H-Bond Acceptor: 56

 The discovery of thymosins in the mid 1960s emerged from investigations of the role of the thymus in development of the vertebrate immune system. Begun by Allan Goldstein in the Laboratory of Abraham White at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, the work continued at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington D.C. The supposition that the role of the thymus might involve a hormone-like mechanism led to the isolation from thymus tissue of a biologically active preparation. Known as "Thymosin Fraction 5", this was able to restore some aspects of immune function in animals lacking thymus gland. Fraction 5 was found to contain a number of small peptides, which were named "thymosins" and classified as α, β and γ thymosins on the basis of their behaviour in an electric field. When individual thymosins were isolated from Fraction 5 and characterized, they were found to have extremely varied and important biological properties. However they are not truly thymic hormones in that they are not restricted in occurrence to thymus and several are widely distributed throughout many different tissues.

  Thymosins are named thymosins because they were originally isolated from the thymus, but most are now known to be present in many other tissues. Thymosins have diverse biological activities, and two in particular, thymosins α1 and β4, have potentially important uses in medicine, some of which have already progressed from the laboratory to the clinic. In relation to diseases, thymosins have been categorized as biological response modifiers.

  Thymosin (CAS NO.61512-21-8) are small polypeptides present in animal tissues.