Studies on autobiotics: chemical nature of retine.

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Abstract
It is probable that retine is a methylglyoxal derivative. However, the natural keto-aldehyde which is called "retine" is not identical with methylglyoxal because its activity is considerably higher. The methylglyoxal does not form reineckates, while retine prepared by steam distillation or earlier methods does, suggesting that it contains nitrogen. [alpha]-Keto-aldehydes are capable of various isomerizations and polymerizations which makes them unstable. This might explain the difficulties encountered in the isolation of retine.