THE CHEMISTRY OF CHLOROPHYLL 



435 



TABLE I 



Per cent. HC1, 

 which readily ex- 

 tracts base from 

 ethereal solution 



Crystallises from 

 hot alcohol 



Colour of ethereal 

 solution 



Colour of solution 

 in hydrochloric 

 acid 



Solubility in methyl 

 alcohol 



Solubility in ben- 

 zene 



Phytochlorin 

 a. 



Needles united 

 in rosettes 



Olive-green 



Bluish not fluo- 

 rescent 



With difficulty in 

 cold ; easily in 

 hot 



With difficulty in 

 cold ; easily in 

 hot 



Phytochlorin 

 b. 



Plates 



Olive-green 



Bluish-green not 

 fluorescent 



With some diffi- 

 culty in cold ; 

 easily in hot 



With great diffi- 

 culty in cold ; 

 somewhat in 

 hot 



Phytochlorin 



Phytochlorin 



1"5 



Spindle - shaped 

 crystals 



Green - olive 

 tinge 



Blue, fluorescent 



Soluble easily in 

 cold 



Almost insoluble 

 in cold ; with 

 some difficulty 

 in hot 



0-5 



Prisms with 

 twined forms 



Ture green 



Violet - blue, 

 strongly fluo- 

 rescent 



Very readily in 

 cold 



Almost insoluble 

 in cold ; with 

 great difficulty 

 in hot 



The phytorhodins were obtained from an alkachlorophyll 

 which was prepared by treatment of chlorophyll extracts with 

 cold alcoholic potassium hydroxide. Two fractions were thereby 

 obtained, one of which readily separated as an insoluble potassium 

 salt from the alcoholic solution (compare results of Hoppe- 

 Seyler and Schunck and Marchlewski), whilst the other remained 

 in solution ; this fraction was precipitated in the form of a calcium 

 salt by the addition of alcoholic calcium chloride to the filtrate 

 from the insoluble potassium salt. These fractions were then 

 heated with ethyl-alcoholic solution of hydrochloric acid (20 per 

 cent.) for several hours, and a series of the so-called phyto- 

 rhodins was obtained, chiefly in the form of the ethyl esters. 

 From the potassium salt the chief product was phytorhodin a r 

 whilst from the calcium salt the chief product was phytorho- 

 din b. These were accompanied with smaller quantities of other 

 phytorhodins from which they could be separated by the method 

 of fractional extraction with graded strengths of acids by the 

 method already described. It is unnecessary in this place to give 

 the details of the methods ; the properties of the chief products 

 isolated which can be distinguished from one another by the 

 differences in crystalline form and the colours of their solutions 

 are given in the following table : 



