Studies on a Model of Bitter Peptides Including Arginine, Proline and Phenylalanine Residues. II.¹⁾ Bitterness Behavior of a Tetrapeptide (Arg-Pro-Phe-Phe) and Its Derivatives

Abstract

In order to investigate the production of a strong bitter taste of the tetrapeptide, Arg-Pro-Phe-Phe (1), we synthesized 16 kinds of analogs and tasted them. From the results, it was clarified that all the constituent amino acid residues in Arg-Pro-Phe-Phe (1) were necessary for its strong bitter taste. For a further increase in bitterness potency, it was found that the bitterness production units necessary should be concentrated together. In addition, Arg-Pro-Gly-Gly (6) and Gly-Gly-Arg-Pro (7) were found to have no bitterness. This will be very useful not only for studies on debittering of food but also for basic studies on the taste production mechanism.