Chemistry of the hydrated electron in oxygen-free solutions of amino acids, peptides, and related compounds.

In extending previous studies on the radiation-induced deamination of the simpler α-amino acids in oxygen-free solution, it has been found that reductive deamination by the hydrated electron, ${\rm e}_{{\rm aq}}^{-}$ , is not confined to the free amino acid configuration. The dipeptides, tripeptides, and other derivatives of glycine, for example, are found to react with ${\rm e}_{{\rm aq}}^{-}$ (essentially quantitatively) to cleave the N-C bond of the primary amino group. Radiolysis studies of variously substituted amino compounds in solutions containing second solutes which are specific scavengers of H, OH in the one case and of ${\rm e}_{{\rm ag}}^{-}$ in the other indicates that reductive deamination by ${\rm e}_{{\rm aq}}^{-}$ requires an unsaturated function at the carbon position α to the amino group. It is suggested that ${\rm e}_{{\rm aq}}^{-}$ adds to this function and that N-C cleavage then e...