L-Tyrosine

Tyrosine (from the Greek "tyros", meaning cheese) was discovered by German chemist Justus von Liebig in 1846 in the course of an investigation of the nature of the products that proteins yield on decomposition with alkali. He fused crude casein (protein from cheese) with an equal weight of potassium hydroxide, dissolved the mass in hot water, acidified with acetic acid and permitted the solution to cool.

Warren de la Rue obtained tyrosine in 1848 during an investigation on the composition of the cochineal insect. The synthesis of tyrosine was first accomplished by Emil Erlenmeyer and Lipp who treated p-aminophenylalanine with nitrous acid.

Emil Fischer was the first to separate the optical isomers of synthetic tyrosine. This was done by crystallization of the brucine or cinchonine salts of benzoyltyrosine.

IUPAC Name: (2S)-2-Amino-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propanoic acid
Symbol: Tyr or Y
Molecular Weight: 181.18854 g/mol
Molecular Formula: C9H11NO3
Canonical SMILES: C1=CC(=CC=C1CC(C(=O)O)N)O
Isomeric SMILES: C1=CC(=CC=C1C[C@@H](C(=O)O)N)O
InChIKey Identifier: OUYCCCASQSFEME-QAXLLPJCDY
CAS Number: 60-18-4
MDL Number: MFCD00002606
Melting point: 290 °C
Solubility in water: 0.45 g/L (25 °C)
2D Molfile: Get the molfile
3D PDB file: Get the PDB file
Other names: 3-(4-Hydroxyphenyl)-L-alanine; (S)-alpha-Amino-4-hydroxybenzenepropanoic acid; (-)-alpha-Amino-p-hydroxyhydrocinnamic acid; L-p-Tyrosine; p-Tyrosine; (S)-Tyrosine; L-Beta-(p-Hydroxyphenyl)alanine; (S)-alpha-Amino-4-hydroxybenzenepropanoic acid

Load 3D Structure of Tyrosine

L-Tyrosine is a starting material for neurotransmitters and increases plasma neurotransmitter levels, particularly dopamine and noradrenaline. It is also involved in the synthesis of enkephalins, compounds that have pain-relieving effects in the body.

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