Alanine determination

Gas-phase structure of alanine determined by microwave spectroscopy. [From S. Blanco, A. Lesarri, J. C. Lopez, arid J. L Alonso. The Gas-Phase Structure ol Alanine "J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 11675.]... 

Initially, we examined the reaction of aldehyde 11 and z-Pr2Zn in the presence of the 20 naturally occurring enantiopure amino acids [82]. L-Alanine induced the production of (S)-5-pyrimidyl alkanol 12 with 90% yield and 92% ee. In contrast, D-alanine gave (R)-12 with 90% ee. These reproducible results clearly show that the configuration of alanine determined the configuration of the produced 5-pyrimidyl alkanol. In the case of all 20 amino acids, their chirality is recognized and highly enantiomerically enriched pyrimidyl alkanol 12 was obtained. 

Fig. 10 The structures of conformers I and Ila of alanine determined in [105], showing the hydrogen bond distances...

The sequence of each different peptide or protein is important for understanding the activity of peptides and proteins and for enabling their independent synthesis, since the natural ones may be difficult to obtain in small quantities. To obtain the sequence, the numbers of each type of amino acid are determined by breaking down the protein into its individual amino acids using concentrated acid (hydrolysis). For example, hydrolysis of the tetrapeptide shown in Figure 45.3 would give one unit of glycine, two units of alanine, and one unit of phenylalanine. Of course, information as to which amino acid was linked to which others is lost. 

Crystalline Structures. Crystal shape of amino acids varies widely, for example, monoclinic prisms in glycine and orthorhombic needles in L-alanine. X-ray crystallographic analyses of 23 amino acids have been described (31). L-Glutamic acid crystallizes in two polymorphic forms (a and P) (32), and the a-form is mote facdely handled in industrial processes. The crystal stmeture has been determined (33) and is shown in Figure 1. 

From a map at low resolution (5 A or higher) one can obtain the shape of the molecule and sometimes identify a-helical regions as rods of electron density. At medium resolution (around 3 A) it is usually possible to trace the path of the polypeptide chain and to fit a known amino acid sequence into the map. At this resolution it should be possible to distinguish the density of an alanine side chain from that of a leucine, whereas at 4 A resolution there is little side chain detail. Gross features of functionally important aspects of a structure usually can be deduced at 3 A resolution, including the identification of active-site residues. At 2 A resolution details are sufficiently well resolved in the map to decide between a leucine and an isoleucine side chain, and at 1 A resolution one sees atoms as discrete balls of density. However, the structures of only a few small proteins have been determined to such high resolution. 

The percentages of amino acids in silk fibroin which Poison et al. (224) found by direct visual and indirect photometric analysis of ninhydrin paper-partition chromatograms are shown in Table VII. The percentages obtained for alanine, glycine, and serine appear to be reasonably accurate, inasmuch as they agree closely with those found by other methods. It would be of interest to determine alanine by the microbiological method reported recently by Sauberlich and Baumann (238), in view of the widely different values found for this amino acid by the described ninhydrin-chromatographic procedure and the selec-... 

Sl-a-Phenylethylaminc (2a 94% ee) and (.S)-2-heptylamine (2b 82% ec) were synthesized from enantiomerically pure nitrones 1 a and 1 b (33-39% overall yield). The enantiomeric purity of the amines was determined by HPLC analysis of their 3,5-dinitrobenzamidines on a D-naphthyl alanine column,... 

The initial enthusiasm for tacrine and velnacrine, which are the anticholinesterases most studied clinically, has been tempered by the fact that not all patients respond. Most show the peripheral parasympathomimetic effects of cholinesterase inhibition, e.g. dyspepsia and diarrhoea, as well as nausea and vomiting, and about half of the patients develop hepatotoxicity with elevated levels of plasma alanine transaminase. While some peripheral effects can be attenuated with antimuscarinics that do not enter the brain, these add further side-effects and the drop-out rate from such trials is high (<75%) in most long-term studies. Donepezil appears to show less hepatotoxicity but its long-term value remains to be determined. 

Many dehydrogenase enzymes catalyze oxidation/reduction reactions with the aid of nicotinamide cofactors. The electrochemical oxidation of nicotinamide adeniiw dinucleotide, NADH, has been studied in depthThe direct oxidation of NADH has been used to determine concentration of ethanol i s-isv, i62) lactate 157,160,162,163) pyTuvate 1 ), glucose-6-phosphate lactate dehydrogenase 159,161) alanine The direct oxidation often entails such complications as electrode surface pretreatment, interferences due to electrode operation at very positive potentials, and electrode fouling due to adsorption. Subsequent reaction of the NADH with peroxidase allows quantitation via the well established Clark electrode. 

By this method, for example, the absolute configurations of the following compounds were established (-)-2-phenylbutyric acid,[48] (-)-hydratropic acid,[48] (+)-0-acetyl-mandelic acid,t48] (-)-2-(7/-carbazolyl)propionic acid,t48] (+)-1 -phenylethanol,[48] (-)-menthol,t48] (+)-1 -phenylethylamine,[48] and 1-alanine ethylester.[48] The determination of the absolute configuration of bacteriochlorophylles c, d and e was made possible by the esterification of the phaeophorbides by CDI to imidazolides.[49]... 

Experimental and theoretical approaches are now converging on the polyproline II backbone conformation as the most stable structure for short alanine peptides in water. It becomes of urgent importance to determine the energy differences between polyproline II and other possible backbone conformations, as well as to determine how amino acid composition and sequence affect backbone conformation. 

Morikawa, A., Hamase, K., Zaitsu, K. (2003). Determination of D-alanine in the rat central nervous system and periphery using column-switching high-performance liquid chromatography. Anal. Biochem. 312, 66-72. 

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