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I got an unexpected reaction which I'm trying to explain to myself:

I mixed 10 parts glycerol with 1 part glycine at ~90C and to my great surprise the mixture turned from transparent to a tint of red. I had maybe 1-2% water in there too. There might have been a very slight evolution of gas but that most probably was just the water boiling out.

I googled to try to find an answer to no avail. Does anyone know what could have happened?

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    $\begingroup$ No idea nor I want to start a search but this could be a starting point semanticscholar.org/paper/… $\endgroup$
    – Alchimista
    Commented Dec 5, 2020 at 10:14
  • $\begingroup$ @Alchimista: I'll read into it. Thank you!! $\endgroup$
    – Hans
    Commented Dec 5, 2020 at 18:39
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    $\begingroup$ Your temperature might be too low, but a little colour can go a long way and acrolein can form from glycerol, but usually catalysts are involved. An imine or enamine between glycine and an acrolein intermediate might not be impossible $\endgroup$
    – Beerhunter
    Commented Dec 6, 2020 at 23:38

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