The numbering system used for the 3-dehydroshikimate is that of the IUPAC/CBN recommendations on cyclitols, sections I-8 and I-9. The use of the term '5-dehydroshikimate' for this compound is based on an earlier, now obsolete, system of numbering (for example of use, see S. Mitsuhashi and B. D. Davis, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1954, 15, 268-280).