STUDIES ON FLAVORED PEPTIDES .12. TASTES PRODUCED BY PEPTIDES CONTAINING IONIC GROUPS AND BY RELATED-COMPOUNDS

The typical tastes imparted by ionic groups are salty-like of sodium c hloride and umami-like of monosodium glutamate, but the relationship b etween the taste and chemical structure has not previously been elucid ated, One of the reason for the difficulty in understanding the taste- structure relationship is the presence of the ambiguous and unfavorabl e tastes of neutral salts, We define the strange tastes of neutral sal ts (TNS) collectively in a specific category, and then the tastes due to ionic groups, Sour, salty, and umami tastes and TNS were studied fo r different acidic and basic groups and various combinations of both g roups to elucidate the taste characteristics of the ionic groups, The results reveal that the tastes due to ionic groups have common charact eristics, being different from bitter and sweet tastes.