The title compound, -acetoxy-3-carboxy-N,N,N-trimethyl-1-propanaminium
chloride, C9H18NO4+.Cl-, represents a source of activated acetyl grou
ps which are efficiently used for biosynthetic purposes, The crystal s
tructure reported here confirms the extended conformation of the compo
und predicted from solid-state NMR studies and differs from that previ
ously reported in the literature.