J. Gutteridge
Dec 1, 1975
Citations
3
Influential Citations
110
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Analytical biochemistry
Abstract
Abstract The polymerization of malonyldialdehyde (MDA) formed after the acid hydrolysis of 1,1,3,3-tetraethoxypropane (TEP) and 1,1,3,3-tetramethoxypropane (TMP) has been studied using techniques of gas-liquid, thin-layer, and gel-filtration chromatography. The results show that, even while hydrolysis is still in progress, low-molecular-weight polymers of MDA begin to form. After hydrolysis at least 13 different polymers could be detected. Several of these had absorption peaks in both the visible and the ultraviolet region. With the thiobarbituric acid reagent (TBA) at room temperature the various polymers produced different colour reactions; but heating in 28% trichloroacetic acid leads to depolymerisation and the formation of the characteristic 532 nm MDA TBA coloured complex. MDA polymers could not be shown to account for any of the multiple TBA-reactive compounds produced by autoxidised linolenic acid. In experimental work designed to study the biological activity of MDA in its own right, the use of TEP or TMP as the source material and the strong tendency of MDA to polymerise must be taken into account.