A second method for forming the amine salts of amino acids of this invention is to react the primary or secondary amine with an aldehyde such as formaldehyde, and then react this reaction product with HCN to form the nitrile. The nitrile then can be hydrolyzed in aconventional manner to the acid. In this reaction, it is necessary to form a terminal methylol group by the
reaction of the aldehyde with the amine, and any aldehyde performing this function is operable. This reaction can be performed in one or two steps as described. Examples of aldehydes suited for this reaction include furfuraldehyde, benzaldehyde, acetaldehyde and formaldehyde. As mentioned before, then the resulting reaction product is reacted with HCN and subsequently
converted to the acid.