Abstract
A soy sauce sample was fractionated by gel filtration on a Sephadex G-15 column, then the fractions were subfractionated on the basis of acidity by ion exchange chromatography on a QAE-Sephadex A-25 column. The acidic subfractions with various acidities were further fractionated, using a preparative amino acid analyzer and by paper chromatography to separate the acidic peptide components.
Four dipeptides and sugar derivatives of ten dipeptides and two tripeptides were isolated and characterized as the major acidic peptides in soy sauce. However, it was difficult to anticipate any direct contribution of these peptides to the flavor construction in soy sauce on the basis of their contents and taste intensities.
