Year: 1968
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Major chemical effects of γ-rays on simple peptides in the polycrystalline state, in the glassy state and in concentrated aqueous solutions lead to degradation of the peptide chain. Several different reaction modes are involved and these all yield amide-like products that readily hydrolyze to give ammonia. Major concomitant products include fatty acid, ketoacid and aldehyde. Studies of N-acetylalanine glass containing added electron scavengers provide a measurement of the ionization yield, G e- ≃ 3. Conventional radical scavengers have relatively little effect on G(NH 3 ) ≃ 3.5. However, certain aromatic compounds effectively quench a major fraction of the (amide) ammonia yield. The evidence is that keto acid and aldehyde are formed from positive-ion intermediates while fatty acid and amide are derived through reactions involving excited (triplet) states.
Source: Advances in chemistry series
Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Language: English
Subfield: Food Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W181154119