REPORT OP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 103 



CHEMISTRY. 



John J. Abel, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. Grant 

 No. 109 (continuation of grant No. 24). For study of the chemi- 

 cal composition of the secretion of the sup ra-re7ial gland. $500. 



Abstract of Report. — Assisted by Mr. R. de M. Taveau, Dr. Abel 

 has continued his investigations on the chemical constitution of 

 epinephrin and of epinephrin hydrate (adrenalin, suprarennin). 

 Carefully conducted oxidation of both epinephrin and its hydrate 

 with dilute nitric acid led to the formation of large amounts of 

 oxalic acid; also of a peculiar and hitherto unknown basic substance 

 having the composition represented in the formula CgH^N^O. On 

 treating this base with fixed alkalies it is decomposed and yields 

 ammonia, methylamine, and methylhydrazine. The occurrence of 

 methylhydrazine among these products leads the writers to conclude 

 that the two nitrogen atoms of the new base, CjH^NjO, are directly 

 linked to each other. More work, however, needs to be done before 

 this deduction can be made to apply to the nitrogen of epinephrin itself. 



The action of fused alkalies on epinephrin hydrate has also been 

 studied. Skatol, which the writers had heretofore observed among 

 the fusion products of monobenzoyl epinephrin, was now easily obtain- 

 able. A substance having some of the properties of protocatechaic 

 acid and yet differing from this acid in certain respects was also 

 obtained on fusion with sodium amalgam. This aromatic deriva- 

 tive is still under investigation. 



An adequate constitutional formula for epinephrin must explain 

 not only all of the ordinary reactions of this substance, but also the 

 formation of the degradation products just enumerated. The 

 formulae that have been recently proposed fail to meet these demands, 

 being, for example, unable to account for the appearance of the 

 base, CgH^N.^O, among the oxidation products of epinephrin. The 

 writers entertain the hope that further experimentation will enable 

 them to offer a formula which shall more correctly represent the 

 constitution of epinephrin. 



As the correctness of the empirical formula, CigHijNOg^H.O, for 

 epinephrin hydrate has recently been challenged by European in- 

 vestigators, the writers are now engaged in a redetermination of this 

 formula. In order to obviate possible errors due to oxidation from 

 contact with the air, the whole process of isolation and all the steps 

 of purification are being carried on in an atmosphere of hydrogen. 

 This work is well on the way to completion, and the results will soon 

 be published. 



