TASTE OF ACETYLATED AMINO ACIDS

The gustatory properties of amino acids and their acetylatedcounterparts were compared. Application of multidimensionalscaling procedures to semantic differential ratings and similarityjudgments revealed that five unpleasant tasting amino acidsbecame tasteless when acetylated. Also, two extremely unpalatableamino acids became sour. All the acetylated amino acids fallwithin Henning's tetrahedral prism; however, one amino acid,cysteine (crystallized from acid solution) fell outside thetraditional sweet, sour, salty and bitter categories. ^* Assistant Professor of Medical Psychology.