Interaction of tyrosine with dissolved oxygen in solution and spectroscopic evidence for oscillations.

Electronic absorption and fluorescence spectra of tyrosine have been studied, using aqueous solutions containing normal and excess amounts of dissolved oxygen, as a function of time. The absorption and fluorescence intensities are found to oscillate with time. Interaction between tyrosine and oxygen is appreciable but it seems that either the formation of a complex between the two molecules is not favoured, or the process of complexation is very slow and the complex weak.