Lexic.us

Definition of Betaine

1. Noun. A sweet tasting alkaloid that occurs in sugar beets.

Definition of Betaine

1. n. A nitrogenous base, C₅H₁₁NO₂, produced artificially, and also occurring naturally in beet-root molasses and its residues, from which it is extracted as a white crystalline substance; -- called also lycine and oxyneurine. It has a sweetish taste.

Definition of Betaine

1. Noun. (uncountable organic compound) A sweet, crystalline compound (not an alkaloid), trimethylammoniumacetate, found in sugar beet and similar plants, sometimes used to treat muscular degeneracy; the zwitterion (CH₃)₃N⁺CH₂COO^- ¹

2. Noun. (countable organic chemistry) Any derivative of this compound. ¹

3. Noun. (countable organic chemistry by extension) Any similar compound, based on sulfur or phosphorus etc, having an onium ion with no hydrogen atom adjacent to the anionic atom. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Betaine

1. an alkaloid [n -S] - See also: alkaloid

Medical Definition of Betaine

1. A derivative of glycine characterised by high water solubility. Can function as an osmotic agent in plant tissues. See: biogenic amines. This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology (11 Mar 2008)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Betaine

Literary usage of Betaine

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London by Royal Society (Great Britain) (1904)
"From the observations described in the preceding communication, it was evident that betaine cannot be distinguished as an inert member of the ptomaine ..."

2. A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry by Thomas Edward Thorpe (1921)
"Crude beet-sugar may contain 0-376 pc of betaine (Waller and Flimmer, Proc. Roy. Soc. 1903, 72, 345). The only practical natural source is the final mother ..."

3. Poisons: Their Effects and Detection by Alexander Wynter Blyth, Meredith Wynter Blyth (1906)
"betaine.—betaine may be separated from a solution in alcohol as large deliquescent crystals ; the reaction of the crystals is neutral. ..."

4. Commercial Organic Analysis: A Treatise on the Properties, Proximate by Alfred Henry Allen (1896)
"The betaine is not present in the root as such, but in a form from which it ... betaine is also present in beetroot molasses, in the branches and leaves of ..."

5. The Chemical Trade Journal and Oil, Paint and Colour Review (1892)
"By this method an approximate estimation of the relative proportions of choline and betaine was obtained. v of opinion that the Winsford district was ..."

6. A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry by Thomas Edward Thorpe (1912)
"3, 161; Frühling and Schulz, Ber. 10,1070). A general method of obtaining betaine from plant extracts is to precipitate with lead acetate, ..."

7. Practical organic and bio-chemistry by Robert Henry Aders Plimmer (1920)
"betaine, the first member of the series of trimethylamine derivatives of •. fatty ... betaine, and the other members of the group, when dried at 100° lose a ..."

Other Resources: