Abstract
IT has been shown that the slow racemization reaction of amino-acids can be used in geochronology1–4. One reaction of particular interest is that involving isoleucine. The racemization of L-isoleucine (iso) produces the non-protein amino-acid D-alloisoleucine (alleu), and these two can be separated on an automatic amino-acid analyser. The isoleucine racemization reaction in bone has a half-life at 20° C in excess of 100,000 years and preliminary evidence suggests that the reaction can be used to date fossil bones too old to be dated by radiocarbon4.
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BADA, J., PROTSCH, R. & SCHROEDER, R. The Racemization Reaction of Isoleucine used as a Palaeotemperature Indicator. Nature 241, 394–395 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/241394a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/241394a0
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