Chemical Properties
WHITE CRYSTALS OR CRYSTALLINE POWDER
Uses
Betaine monohydrate has been used:
- in the preparation of KLA buffer to perform polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
- to study the its effects on Km and Vmax of human aldose reductase
- to study its effects on the growth of A549 lung cancer both in vitro and in vivo
Definition
ChEBI: A hydrate that is the monohydrate form of glycine betaine.
General Description
Betaine is a zwitterionic quaternary ammonium compound and is mainly present in animals, microorganisms and plants. It is one of the main constituent of several food items like wheat, shellfish, spinach and sugar beets. It is also termed as trimethylglycine, lycine, glycine betaine and oxyneurine. Betaine is a methyl derivative of glycine. It has a molecular mass of 117.2.
Biochem/physiol Actions
End-product of oxidative metabolism of choline, betaine is a general methyl donor, in particular in a minor pathway of methionine biosynthesis. It is used to treat homocystinuria, which is a defect in the major pathway of methionine biosynthesis.
Purification Methods
Crystallise betaine from aqueous EtOH or EtOH/Et2O. The monohydrate loses H2O above 100o. Betaine undergoes internal alkylation to methyl dimethylaminoacetate Purification of Biochemicals — Amino Acids and Peptides above its melting point. It is also prepared by treating the hydrochloride (below) with silver oxide and recrystallising from EtOH/Et2O. [Edsall J Am Chem Soc 66 1767 1943, Leifer & Lippincott J Am Chem Soc 79 5098 1957, for pK see Grob et al. Chem and Ind (London) 1222 1955, Beilstein 4 III 1127, 4 IV 2369.]
