Abstract
IN the course of an investigation (to be reported elsewhere) of press liquor, a waste product of the South African rock lobster industry, it was necessary to examine certain nitrogenous fractions. The solute in de-proteinized (trichloroacetic acid) press liquor was found to consist almost entirely of free amino-acids. A phenol/lutidine chromatogram showed an unknown substance giving a pink to pink-purple colour with ninhydrin. From its position on the chromatogram, it could be either methionine sulphoxide, or the ‘T-spot’ (β-aminoisobutyric acid) of Crumpler, Dent, Harris and Westall1. The first possibility was disproved by oxidation with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of molybdate; the unknown appearing in its usual position, unlike the sulphoxide, which is oxidized to the sulphone and appears elsewhere on the chromatogram.
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References
Crumpler, H. R., Dent, C. E., Harris, H., and Westall, R. G., Nature, 167, 307 (1951).
Crumpler, H. R., and Dent, C. E., Nature, 164, 441 (1949).
Camien, M. N., Sarlet, H., Duchâteau, G., and Florkin, M., J. Biol. Chem., 193, 881 (1951).
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NOVELLIE, L. An Unknown Amino-acid occurring in the Rock Lobster (Jasus lalandii). Nature 169, 968 (1952). https://doi.org/10.1038/169968a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/169968a0
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