Formation of N-nitrosodimethylamine from naturally occurring quaternary ammonium compounds and tertiary amines

THE potential for the formation of N-nitrosamines in the human environment, either during the processing of foods or in vivo from nitrate and/or nitrite, and precursor amines has received considerable attention in recent years. Traditionally only secondary amines were thought to undergo N-nitrosatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1972-04, Vol.236 (5345), p.307-307
Main Authors: Fiddler, W, Pensabene, J.W, Doerr, R.C, Wasserman, A.E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acetylcholine
Amines
Betaine
Carnitine
Chemical Phenomena
Chemistry
Choline
Chromatography, Gas
Food-Processing Industry
foods
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
Meat
multidisciplinary
N-nitrosodimethylamine
Nitrites
Nitrosamines
Quaternary Ammonium Compounds
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
tertiary amines
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Summary:THE potential for the formation of N-nitrosamines in the human environment, either during the processing of foods or in vivo from nitrate and/or nitrite, and precursor amines has received considerable attention in recent years. Traditionally only secondary amines were thought to undergo N-nitrosation reactions. While secondary amines per se are not common in biological systems, tertiary amines and quaternary ammonium compounds do occur in plant and animal tissue. The possible formation of N-nitrosamines from these compounds must be considered because recent reports have appeared on the nitrosation of trimethylamine 1,2 and trimethylamine oxide 1 in connexion with the possible formation of N-nitrosamines in fish products cured with nitrate. The nitrosative cleavage of tertiary amines is not new and has been described before 3,4 .
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/236307a0