A question about protein.....

[alanchan]

Hi everyone, I'm a new memeber here. And i got a problem about protein. Can anyone help me??thx~~
When Protein react with strong acid, it will release nitrogen gas, right??
but why will it release nitrogen gas, but no other nitrogenous compound like ammonia??
thx~~

[blcr11]

Why do you think that? When you do a Kjeldhal nitrogen determination you are heating protein in the presence of sulfuric acid and some catalyst and you get ammonium salts and carbon dioxide during the decomposition stage. When you do acid hydrolysis in 6N HCl you mostly get amino acids and not much gas, if any. So I don't quite understand why you think you get nitrogen gas from acid treatment of proteins.