Comment on What are some actual good *sour* sour candy?
jxk@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks agoJust to be pedantic, the acidity doesn’t come from the acetyl group - - it comes from the tyrosine, an amino acid.
Comment on What are some actual good *sour* sour candy?
jxk@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks agoJust to be pedantic, the acidity doesn’t come from the acetyl group - - it comes from the tyrosine, an amino acid.
Uranium_Green@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Hmm, that’s interesting but IIRC Tyrosine itself isn’t all that sour when tasted, nor are really any other amino acids I can think of aside from possibly Taurine, I assumed it was a small amount of hydrolysis of the acetyl group was occurring to enable the taste difference, but if you’ve got some more context I’d love to hear it
jxk@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
The acetyl group (-COCH₃) is not acidic itself. The amino acid has both an acidic -COOH group and a basic primary amine (-NH₂) group, but in the compound the primary amine becomes a secondary amine (-NH-), who basicity will depend on surrounding atoms. (If you look at a structural diagram of the compound, the only hydrogen atom it can realistically lose to have acidity is on the -COOH.)