Studies on Flavor Components in Boiled Crabs-II

Nucleotides and Organic Bases in the Extracts

Abstract

As a part of strdies on the flavor components of boiled crabs, we have analyzed nucleotides and organic bases in the extracts from the leg meat, hepatopancreas, and ovary of five species of common edible crabs in Japan.
AMP and CMP were found to be the major nucleotides in these tissues. Small amounts of GMP, UMP, IMP, and ADP were also detected, along with several kinds of nucleosides and free bases, in some or all samples. The contents of nucleotides in the ovary were three to five times higher than those in the other parts. The leg meat and hepatopancreas were rich in glycine betaine and trimethylamine oxide, with somewhat lower levels of homarine. The ovary accumulated more homarine than the other parts.
In most samples, more than 90% of the total extractive nitrogen was accounted for by these constituents and by the amino acids reported in the previous paper.