1912] Anton Richard Rose 25 



ous in oily seeds. He also remarks that the smaller seeds such as 

 cereals are the richest in " phytin." This Compound is not entirely 

 confined to seeds, its presence having also been noted in the potato 

 near the eye and as characteristic spheroids in the tubers of Allium 

 and Dahlia. Roots functioning as storage organs, such as those of 

 the Brassicae, contain small amounts. None was found by Totting- 

 ham and Hart in the mature stems and leaves of the common 

 fodder plants, but it occurs in clover leaves and in millet during the 

 late flovvering period, and also in tender shoots. 



PREPARATION OF INOSITE-PHOSPHORIC ACID AND ITS SALTS 



To prepare phytin or its closely related Compounds from seeds, 

 they should be finely ground and, if fat is present in large amounts, 

 it should be removed by extraction with ether and alcohol. Most 

 of the preparations reported in the literature have been obtained 

 from cereals by leaching with 0.2 per cent. hydrochloric acid Solu- 

 tion. Acetic acid has also been used in i per cent. Solution, and 

 in a few cases acid Solutions of greater concentration have been 

 employed. To remove the soluble proteins from the extract, 

 Levene used picric acid; other investigators have coagulated them 

 by heating and filtration after cooling; but when acidulated water 

 is used the proteins do not seem to interfere appreciably with the 

 preparation of pure phytin. The reserve proteins of the seeds are 

 of the globulin type and are soluble only in the presence of salt in 

 the extracting agent. Precipitation of inosite-phosphoric acid from 

 its Solutions can be accomplished by several methods, such as the use 

 of the acetates of the heavy metals, barium chlorid in ammoniacal 

 Solution or magnesia mixture. In these cases the precipitated Com- 

 pound is obviously in a form different from that in which it occurs in 

 the original material. To obtain the salt more nearly in the form in 

 which it is found in the seed, it may be precipitated by heating the 

 Solution to almost boiling and filtering while hot; or better, by 

 adding four volumes of ninety-five per cent. alcohol. In obtaining 

 pure preparations of inosite-phosphoric acid or its salts, a number 

 of reprecipitations are necessary. These have been made alternately 

 with copper, lead, and barium. Salts of the first two are decom- 

 posed by suspending in distilled water and bubbling hydrogen sul- 



