Bergmann Degradation

M. Bergmann, Science 79, 439 (1934).

Stepwise degradation of polypeptides involving benzoylation, conversion to azides and treatment of the azides with benzyl alcohol; this treatment yields, via rearrangement to isocyanates, carbobenzoxy compounds which undergo catalytic hydrogenation and hydrolysis to the amide of the degraded peptide:

M. Bergmann, L. Zervas, J. Biol. Chem. 113, 341 (1936); H. D. Springall, The Structural Chemistry of Proteins (New York, 1954) p 321. Cf. Curtius Rearrangement.