Vitamin E  (Tocopherols)

Vitamin E is an essential fat-soluble vitamin that functions, at  least in part, as a lipid- soluble antioxidant. Presence of vitamin E was first revealed by Evans and Bishop in 1923. They observed that rats fed on  a diet of corn  starch, lard, casein, butter  and yeast failed to reproduce. They also noticed that this was corrected by  vegetable oil supplementation. The vitamin was  isolated  in 1936 by Evans  and  co-workers from wheat germ oil and was named as tocopherol. Subsequently, synthesis of the vitamin was accomplished by two independent groups of workers in 1938.