The behaviour of secondary and tertiary amines in the presence of catechol and belladonna catechol oxidase

Abstract

Secondary amines reacted in the belladonna poly-phenolasecatechol system to produce compounds with a strong purple color. Oxygen uptake was not altered by the presence of the secondary amines. Tertiary amines did not produce colors and are not oxidized. The colored complex formed by secondary amines oxidized glycine as vigorously as that formed by primary amino-acids. If the addition of the amine was delayed until the catechol oxidation product had time to condense, oxidation of glycine was reduced. The above facts were considered to confirm the p-amino-o-quinone structure of the colored compounds formed with one molecule of amino acid. Corresponding compounds with tertiary N were presumed to result from the condensation with secondary amines. The relative stability of these compounds enabled them to participate in the oxidation of additional amino acid.