New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 173 



The free acid prepared from this purified barium salt by the same 

 method as before gave the following result on analysis after previous 

 drying at 78° in vacuum over phosphorus pentoxide : 



0.2626 gram subst. gave 0.0763 gm. H2O and 0.1049 gm. CO2 

 1733 gram subst. gave 0. 1686 gm. Mg2 P2 O7. 



Found C = 10.89; H = 3.25; P = 27.11 per ct. 



Calculated for phytic acid C6H24O27P6 = 714. 



C = 10.08; H = 3.36; P = 26.05per ct. 



This acid gave the same reactions as previously described. 



preparation of inosite from the above barium salt. 



Of the dry salt, 1.34 grams were heated in a sealed tube with 

 10 cc. 5/N sulphuric acid to 160° for about three hours. After pre- 

 cipitating with barium hydroxide, the inosite was isolated in the 

 usual way and recrystalhzed from dilute alcohol with addition of 

 ether. The product was obtained in colorless needles free from 

 water of crystallization. The yield was 0.17 grams or about 77 

 per ct. of the theory. It gave the reaction of Scherer and melted at 

 221° (uncorrected). The air dried substance was analyzed: 



Found C = 39.81; H = 6.96 per ct. 



A further quantity of the barium salt was prepared by the fol- 

 lowing method, which was found to be much less laborious than that 

 used at first. The cottonseed meal, 8 kilograms, was digested in 

 16 liters of 0.2 per ct. hydrochloric acid for about 5 hours. It was 

 then pressed through cheesecloth and the extract filtered through 

 absorbent cotton. The extract was precipitated with excess of 

 barium hydroxide, allowed to settle and then centrifuged. The 

 precipitate was digested in several liters of 0.5 per ct. hydrochloric 

 acid and again centrifuged. The free acid was then nearly neutral- 

 ized with barium hydroxide. The precipitate which separated was 

 the barium salt of the organic phosphoric acid. This was filtered 

 and treated with . 5 per ct. hydrochloric acid, in which it was readily 

 soluble at first, but it soon separated in the usual crystal aggregates. 

 This was filtered and washed and dissolved in sufficient dilute hydro- 

 chloric acid and again filtered. The practically colorless filtrate was 

 precipitated by alcohol. After filtering, it was again dissolved in 

 dilute hydrochloric acid and precipitated with barium hydroxide, 

 filtered and washed in water. It was then dissolved in dilute hydro- 

 chloric acid, precipitated with alcohol, filtered, washed in dilute 

 alcohol, alcohol and ether and dried in vacuum over sulphuric acid. 

 The product was a snow-white amorphous powder, and it weighed 

 24 grams. It was dissolved in about 300 cc. 0.5 per ct. hydro- 

 chloric acid filtered and allowed to stand a short time, when a portion 

 crystallized out. This was filtered off, washed several times in 

 water and finally in alcohol and ether, and dried in the air. The 

 white crystalline powder weighed 7.4 grams. The filtrate and 



