Reactivities of Some Carbonyl Compounds in Strecker Degradation

The amount of isovaleraldehyde produced by the reaction of l-leucine with various carbonyl compounds including degradation products of sugar was determined, and relative reactivities of these carbonyl compounds in Strecker degradation were compared. The relatively high reactivity of dl-glyceraldehyde in Strecker degradation was considered to be partly due to the formation of pyruvaldehyde which was isolated as its bis-2, 4-dinitrophenyl-hydrazone from the reaction mixture of l-leucine and dl-glyceraldehyde. Formation mechanism of pyruvaldehyde was also proposed.