Abstract
Hydroxyurea is hypothetically presumed to be one of reaction products from urea by urea dehydrogenase discovered by us. Therefore, some properties of hydroxyurea were investigated in order to obtain a clue to identification.
Hydroxyurea was synthesized and its infrared spectrum was estimated. Incidentally, some qualitative tests were also carried out; it showed a blue-violet color with FeCl3 solution, a brick-red color with sodium aminoprusside and MgCl2, a yellowish-green color with p-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde and positive result for Tollen's test while negative one with ninhydrin.
Rf values of hydroxyurea on paper chromatogram were estimated with several solvents. However, distinctive difference could not be determined between hydroxyurea and urea. On the other hand, conditions for ion-exchange chromatography and gel-filtration could settled for separation of hydroxyurea from urea.
Competitive inhibition of urease with hydroxyurea was confirmed as presumed on the basis of resemblance of its structure to that of urea and inhibition constant, Ki, was estimated. Then, effect of hydroxyurea on catalase was investigated in connection with some biological functions of hydroxylamine. While catalase was also inhibited by hydroxyurea, it was confirmed that this was non-competitive one.
