Near infra-red spectra of urea with glycine betaine or trimethylamine N-oxide are additive.

Glycine betaine and trimethylamine-N-oxide counteract urea denaturation in solutions containing urea and the methylamine in the mole ratio of 2:1. Near infra-red difference spectra (water spectrum subtracted) of solutions containing both urea with either glycine betaine or trimethylamine-N-oxide can be predicted from the spectra of the single solutes, with r(2)>0.999 both using the spectrum from 1200 to 2100 nm (where most absorbance is attributable to hydrogen bonding) and using an extended range 1000 to 2500 nm, which includes solute specific bands. Thus urea and the kosmotropes appear to interact with water independently and the counteraction cannot be attributed to specific interactions between them. The spectrum of aqueous glycine betaine can be predicted from tetramethylammonium and formate ions (r(2)=0.998), suggesting that independent interactions of the quaternary amine, and of the carboxyl function, with water are dominant. The exceptional properties of glycine betaine do not arise from specific intramolecular interactions between the charged groups.