Interaction Between Simple Sugars and Amino-Acids

Abstract

MAILLARD¹ was the first to record that solutions containing amino-acids and simple sugars turned brown on heating, and recently the additional observation was made² that a mixture of D-galactose with certain amino-acids after treatment with alkali at 100° C. reacted with p-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde to give a purple colour. Further, the nitrogen-containing glycoside split off from ovomucin by the influenza virus enzyme was found³ to decompose rapidly with humin formation upon mild acid hydrolysis, whereas alkali treatment of the compound and addition of p-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde resulted in the formation of a stable purple colour. These observations prompted an investigation into the underlying chemical reactions.