Stickland fermentation
Named reaction
Stickland fermentation or The Stickland Reaction is the name for a chemical reaction that involves the coupled oxidation and reduction of amino acids to organic acids. The electron donor amino acid is oxidised to a volatile carboxylic acid one carbon atom shorter than the original amino acid. For example, alanine with a three carbon chain is converted to acetate with two carbons. The electron acceptor amino acid is reduced to a volatile carboxylic acid the same length as the original amino acid. For example, glycine with two carbons is converted to acetate.