The titration constants of anserine, carnosine and some related compounds

ALTHOUGH carnosine and anserine are characteristic constituents of the muscles of vertebrates, and are present in these tissues in amounts comparable with the adenylpyrophosphate and creatinephosphate contents, little is known of their chemical, properties, and nothing of their physiological purpose. The present communication is primarily a contribution to our knowledge of their chemistry, though the results seem to have a,bearing on the question of their function in muscle. As part of a chemical examination of these compounds we have measured their titration curves, together with those of methyl histidine, histidine, alanine and ,B-alanine. Certain of these measurements have been made already, but we wished to consider the group of related substances as a whole, and therefore thought it desirable to make measurements ourselves in these cases.