Hypotaurine disproportionation reaction: identification of products

Hypotaurine, concentrated under reduced pressure in HCl solution, partially (30-40%) degrades into taurine (about 30%), 2-aminoethyl-2-aminoethanethio lsulfonate (about 10%) and ethanolamine. The degradation products were iden tified using LC/APCI-MS, NMR, amino acid analysis and various chromatograph ies. The identities were confirmed by comparing the HPLS, MS and NMR charac teristics of authentic compounds. One of the degradation processes during c oncentration of HCl solution of hypotaurine is therefore a disproportionati on reaction which can interfere with the experimental results, when studyin g hypotaurine in biological systems.