Betaine
Neutral chemical compound with both a positively- and negatively-charged functional group / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about a class of compounds. For the specific chemical glycine betaine, see trimethylglycine.
A betaine (/ˈbiːtə.iːn, bɪˈteɪ-, -ɪn/) in chemistry is any neutral chemical compound with a positively charged cationic functional group that bears no hydrogen atom, such as a quaternary ammonium or phosphonium cation (generally: onium ions), and with a negatively charged functional group, such as a carboxylate group that may not be adjacent to the cationic site.[1] Historically, the term was reserved for trimethylglycine (TMG), which is involved in methylation reactions and detoxification of homocysteine.[1] This is a modified amino acid consisting of glycine with three methyl groups serving as methyl donor for various metabolic pathways.[2]