Putrescine (Does anyone smell dead animal?)

At the blog's previous location awhile back, I covered an oligoamine; spermine - which helps to compact DNA in cells. Spermine isn't volatile enough to smell much, but a shorter amine, putrescine, is.

i-70284e3611f2eeb17c165947c5dd2a1a-putrescine.gif

Honestly I don't get the low MW amine thing. Pyridine smells pretty awful to me, but triethylamine and the like are just a bit ripe to me. Putrescine, apparently, occurs in decomposing flesh - it's the decarboxylation product of hte amino acid lysine.

Back Thursday.

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Something about 4-carbon compounds. The nose really shuns so many of these.

Zz

By HelicalZz (not verified) on 05 Jul 2007 #permalink