Abstract
A METHOD for the reductive methylation of peptides and amino-acids, recently published by Bowman1, was used by him to identify as its N-dimethyl derivative the amino-acid in a peptide bearing the free amino-group. Advantage was taken of the ready solubility of these derivatives in alcohol. This elegant method is, however, not immediately suitable for micro-quantities. As N-dimethylamino acids do not give a colour with ninhydrin, paper chromatography2 of the hydrolysate of a methylated peptide should show the absence of the end amino-acid when compared with the hydrolysate of the original peptide. Should this particular amino-acid also occur elsewhere in the peptide, then a diminution of the intensity of the relevant ninhydrin spot is to be expected.
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References
Bowman, R. E., J. Chem. Soc., 1349 (1950).
Dent, C. E., Biochem. J., 43, 180 (1948).
Woiwod, A. J., J. Gen. Microbiol., 3, 312 (1949).
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INGRAM, V. A Micro End-Group Method for Peptides. Nature 166, 1038 (1950). https://doi.org/10.1038/1661038a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1661038a0
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