menge: new choline compoi nds '22'.] 



ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. — Some new compounds of the choline 

 type. G. A. Menge, Hygienic Laboratory, Public Health 

 and Marine Hospital Service. Communicated by Walter 

 Wyman. To appear in the Journal of Biological ( Jhemisl ry. 



The synthetic development of compounds of the choline type 

 has been practically limited to choline itself, the so-called homo- 

 cholines (j3 and 7) and certain derivatives. The physiological 

 activity of these compounds, as reported in the published work 

 of Hunt and Taveau (Hyg. Lab. Bull. 73) is considered to indi- 

 cate in a general way that the greatest activity and least toxicity 

 is realized in those compounds which contain the trimethylamine 

 nucleus and in which the alcoholic hydroxyl is not further removed 

 from the nitrogen than the /3 position, suggesting the substitution 

 of the a- and /3-hydrogen of the carbon chain as the direction 

 of most promising development from the standpoint of physiologi- 

 cal activity. 



It would appear that the simplest method of nomenclature for 

 such a class of compounds is to consider them as substituted cho- 

 lines, a or /3 according to the position of the substituted groups. 

 The author has prepared three new choline compounds in line 

 with the suggested development and certain of their derivatives : 



a-methyl-choline, CLn/ , a white, crystalline, very 



\CH-CH 2 OH 



CH 3 

 hygroscopic compound, was prepared by converting allyl chloride 

 into methylethylenechlorhydrine and condensing this with trim- 



^(CH 3 ) 3 

 ethylamine; ^dimethyl-choline, CI • Nf , awhite,crys- 



CH/ CH 3 



talline, hygroscopic compound was prepared by condensing the 

 chlorhydrine of dimethylglycol with trimethylamine; and 0-0- 



methyl-ethyl-choline, C1-n/ * * , a crystalline, hygrosco- 



^CH 2 • COH 



CH 3 / C 2 H 5 



