Strecker Synthesis

Definition

The Strecker synthesis is a chemical reaction inadvertently discovered in 1850 by Adolph Strecker (Adolph Strecker 1850) during an attempt to synthesize lactic acid from a mixture of acetaldehyde, HCN, and ammonia. Instead of lactic acid, however, Strecker found the amino acid alanine had been synthesized. This represented the first successful demonstration of the synthesis of an amino acid in the laboratory.

The overall reaction sequence shown below is now generally referred to as the Strecker synthesis:

$$ {{\text{R}}_1}{\text{C}}\left( {\text{O}} \right){{\text{R}}_2} + {\text{N}}{{\text{H}}_3} + {\text{HCN}} \to {{\text{R}}_1}{\text{C}}{{\text{R}}_2}({\text{N}}{{\text{H}}_2}){\text{COOH}} $$

Where in R₁C(O)R₂, R₁ and R₂may be either a proton (H) or various substituted or non-substituted alkyl chains. Thus, both aldehydes and ketones can be starting materials for the Strecker synthesis, and depending on the nature of the aldehyde or ketone, various amino acid products...