The oxidation of adrenaline and other amines

Abstract

MAMMALIAN liver and other organs contain an enzyme which catalyses the oxidation of adrenaline. By testing the ability of this enzyme to oxidize other amines of similar constitution it was found that certain groups in the adrenaline molecule, namely (a) the hydroxyl group in the side chain, (b) the phenolic hydroxyl groups and (c) the N-methyl group, were not essential for the oxidation to take place [Blaschko et al. 1937, 1, 2]. This suggested that the enzyme might be identical with the tyramine oxidase described by Hare [1928]. Their identity became still more probable when it was found that the reactions catalysed by these enzymes are chemically very similar, being in each case an oxidative