= 3-hydroxypropionic acid
<3-hydroxypropionic acid> is a three-carbon <beta-hydroxy acid> with structure
$$
\mathrm{HOCH_2CH_2C(=O)OH}.
$$
Its <carboxyl group> carbon is numbered 1; the additional <hydroxyl group> is on carbon 3. The primary ChEBI record identifies the systematic name 3-hydroxypropanoic acid, formula $\mathrm{C_3H_6O_3}$ and average molecular mass $90.078\,\mathrm{g/mol}$. The acid and its <conjugate base>, <3-hydroxypropionate>, are distinguished chemical species.<3-hydroxypropionic acid in ChEBI>[CHEBI:33404, structure, Formula, Average Mass, Names and conjugate-base relation]{ref}
Moving the <hydroxyl group> by one carbon gives the different connectivity of <lactic acid>, $\mathrm{CH_3CH(OH)COOH}$. The two acids have the same molecular formula but are <constitutional isomers>. Molecular mass alone cannot decide which one a sample contains. The terminal alcohol and the <carboxyl group> also provide different sites for chemical transformation; the compound’s name specifies the initial structure rather than guaranteeing one reaction pathway.
An experimentally demonstrated motivation is production as a chemical building block by <metabolic engineering>. In the 2016 primary study by <Chan Woo Song> and colleagues, engineered <Escherichia coli> produced $31.1\,\mathrm{g/L}$ of <3-hydroxypropionic acid> in fed-batch culture. The study screened enzyme combinations and altered the strain, so the observation concerns a particular engineered production system rather than a universal property of the species.<Metabolic Engineering of Escherichia coli for the Production of 3-Hydroxypropionic Acid and Malonic Acid through β-Alanine Route by Chan Woo Song and others>[Abstract, enzyme screening and fed-batch production]{ref}
Using the record’s molecular mass, that mass concentration corresponds to approximately
$$
\frac{31.1\,\mathrm{g/L}}{90.078\,\mathrm{g/mol}}\approx0.345\,\mathrm{mol/L}
$$
of acid equivalents. This conversion is an original calculation, not a separate measurement. Product concentration alone gives neither production rate without a time interval nor mass yield without substrate consumption. Chemical identity, accumulated amount and process performance remain different experimental questions.
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