Polymers produced by heating an amino acid mixture in sea water enriched with transition elements.

A mixture of eighteen protein amino acids was heated in sea water medium enriched with transition metal ions. Small granules were obtained as precipitates. Both dialyzable polymers and undialyzable polymers were obtained from the supernatant. Dialyzable polymers yielded mainly Glu, Asp, Ser, and Thr on hydrolysis; undialyzable polymers (C, 29.45; H, 3.87; N, 4.87; and ash, 31.5 wt%) yielded Thr, Asp, Glu, Gly, Leu, Ser, Lys, Pro, His, Phe, and a few unidentified ninhydrin positive peaks after acid hydrolysis. Five wt% of the undialyzable polymers con-ist of acid-hydrolyzable protein amino acids.