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Nitrogen Compounds

  • Chapter
Phytochemical Methods

Abstract

Although only 2% of the dry weight of plants consists of the element nitrogen, compared to 40% for carbon, there are still a very large number of different nitrogen-containing organic substances known in plants. Nitrogen is first available to the plant in the form of ammonia, produced either from nitrogen fixation in the root (symbiotically in legumes) or from enzymic reduction of absorbed nitrate in shoot and leaf. Nitrogen first appears in organic form as glutamic acid, the key reaction being the transfer of ammonia to α-ketoglutarate, catalysed by glutamic dehydrogenase. The other amino acids are subsequently synthesized from the corresponding α-keto acids, the ammonia being supplied from glutamic acid through the catalytic action of non-specific transaminases Amino acids are also involved in the biosynthesis of practically all the other nitrogenous plant compounds, from the proteins (see Chapter 7) to the alkaloids, amines, cyanogenic glycosides, porphyrins, purines, pyrimidines and cytokinins.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Reading, UK

    J. B. Harborne (Professor of Botany)

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© 1973 J. B. Harborne

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Harborne, J.B. (1973). Nitrogen Compounds. In: Phytochemical Methods. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5921-7_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5921-7_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-23050-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-5921-7

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