Snail Extract Protein

Physical and Chemical Properties

Betaine is also known as trimethylamine, and is the quaternary ammonium derivatives of glycine and a class of N-methyl-compound or trimethyl inner salt after the hydrogen of the amino group being substituted by the methyl group. Common kinds include glycyl betaine, β-alanyl-betaine and prolyl-betaine. We can obtain prismatic crystals or leaf-shaped crystals from ethanol, is sweet taste, and deliquescent. Melting point: 293 °C; it will decomposed at 300 °C. It is soluble in water, methanol and ethanol, but insoluble in ether, and can be isomerized into dimethylamino methyl acetate at the melting point. We can obtain its monohydrate crystal from the aqueous solution of the free acid HO-N (CH3) 3-CH2COOH which generates betaine upon dehydration at 100 °C, and is stable in acid. It can obtain trimethylamine upon reaction with concentrated aqueous potassium hydroxide and can have Maillard reaction with sugar (browning reaction). It is presented in plant such as cottonseed and beetroot as well as in animal substance such as barbed shark meat and crab refined juice. It can be recycled from the mother liquor of beet sugar. It may also be obtained from the methylation reaction of amino acetate or the reaction between chloroacetate with trimethylamine. Clinically it is used in combination with N-amidino glycine for treatment of myasthenia gravis. In analytic chemistry, it can also be used as the reagent for identifying gold. This product is the amphoteric surfactants of betaine used as a leveling agent for vat dyes dying. Drought or salt stress, many plants can accumulate betaine inside their body and become a major organic solutes for osmotic adjustment and have a further protective effect on cell membrane and cellular proteins. The above information is edited by the lookchem of Dai Xiongfeng.

Feed additives

Betaine is a natural compound, and belonging to a kind of quaternary ammonium alkaloids. The name of this substance is because of that it is first extracted from sugar beet. It has been over 50 years since it has been used as a feed additive. It has attracted much attention due to its important of in protein metabolism and lipid metabolism of animals, and has been widely applied. Adding to the chicken feed can increase the amount of broiler carcass quality and chest quantity and also improve the food palatability and utilization rate. Increased feed intake and daily gain is the main component of palatability of aquatic attractant. It can also improve the feed rate of piglet, and thus promoting its growth. It has another important feature as a kind of osmotic pressure regulator which can alleviate the stress of gastrointestinal and increase the viability of juvenile shrimp and fish seedlings under the variation of various stress conditions, such as: cold, heat, disease, and weaning in living conditions. Betaine has a protective effect on the stability of VA and VB and can further improve their application efficacy without having the irritation effect of betaine hydrochloride at the same time.

Flammability and Explosibility

Nonflammable

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.]

Definition

ChEBI: The amino acid betaine derived from glycine.

Who Evaluation

Evaluation year: 2020