BiocHEMiCAL Bulletin 



Volume V JANUARY, 191 6 No. 17 



FRACTIONATION OF THE PHOSPHOTUNGSTIC- 



ACID PRECIPITATE WITH ACETONE AS A 



USEFUL METHOD FOR THE PREPARA- 



TION OF THE VITAMINE FRAC- 



TION FROM YEAST 



CASIMIR FUNK 

 (Received for publication, June i, 1915) 



Introduction. Knowledge of the chemical nature of vita- 

 mines progresses slowly. In 191 1 the author (i) was able to prove 

 that the substance missing from polished rice, deficiency of which 

 occasions beriberi, is undoubtedly an organic base. This fact is 

 based upon certain precipitation reactions which were observed fre- 

 quently and have been confirmed by several workers. 



These new findings very powerfully stimulated research in the 

 whole subject of nutrition. The vitamines were chiefly detected 

 in materials that are rieh in fat and lipoids (with the exception of 

 yeast which, although rieh in vitamines, is poor in fat and lipoids) 

 and, therefore, the somewhat mystical physiological action of lipoids 

 was ascribed to the new class of chemical substances : the vitamines. 



Since 191 1 numerous investigators, including the author, have 

 endeavored more closely to characterize the active substance. It 

 seemed, at first sight, to be a simple problem to isolate a substance 

 showing the marked pharmacological power of curing beriberi after 

 its experimental production in birds. Knowing its approximate 

 nature, by application of the usual fractionation methods it was 

 possible to obtain a very active Solution, freed from inactive im- 

 purities, from which the vitamine could be crystallized. Durmg the 



I 



