802 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



Myristone obtained from alfalfa, C. A. Jacobson (Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc, 

 S3 {1911), No. 12, pp. 2048-2051) .—From alfalfa (Mcdicago sativa) grown from 

 carefully selected seed and cut during the early blooming period, cured, and 

 dried a Ijetone was obtained having the formula (Ci3H27)2CO. This compound, 

 which in all probability is myristone, is combined with another substance or 

 substances in the plant. It can be extracted with hot 95 per cent alcohol and 

 isolated by weak nitric acid. Attempts to oxidize the ketone to the correspond- 

 ing acid were unsuccessful. A secondary alcohol, however, was obtained. 



An improved extractor, C A. Jacobson (Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc., 33 (1911), 

 No. 12, pp. 2051, 2052). — A description of the apparatus used in the above work. 

 The ordinary forms of extraction apparatus found upon the market proved to 

 be inefficient for the purpose. 



Alfalfone, a ketone of the formula C21H42O, obtained from, alfalfa. — Alfalfa 

 investigation, II, C. A. Jacobson (Jour, Amer. Chem. Soc, S'l (1912), No. S, 

 pp. 300-302). — Continuing the work noted in the abstracts above, the author re- 

 ports extracting a ketone from the heavy green precipitate obtained from alfalfa 

 by extraction with 95 per cent alcohol. The name given to this ketone, which is 

 a white, amorphous powder, having the formula C21H42O, is alfalfone. Two 

 samples of alfalfone purified with petroleum ether gave a melting point varying 

 between 88.5 and 88.8° C. 



"Alfalfone is insoluble in water, hot and cold acetone and ether, insoluble in 

 cold alcohol, but dissolves slightly when this solvent is heated to boiling. 

 Chloroform and carbon disulphid dissolve it to some extent in the cold but easily 

 on warming. . . . Alfalfone manifests the same electrical properties as the 

 myristone with which it is associated in alfalfa. It gives negative tests with 

 bromin for unsaturation, with ferric chlorid and alkali for phenolic character, 

 and with acetic anhydrid for hydroxyl. It does not give the characteristic 

 color reactions for the cholesterol group. Its chloroform solution does not 

 show any absorption bands either in the visible or ultraviolet part of the spec- 

 trum. It is neutral to litmus and phenolphthalein. Continuous exti'action of 

 alfalfa for several months was necessary before enough of this material could 

 be obtained to work with, as the yield is only a small fraction of 1 per cent. . . . 



"Like myristone, this ketone did not yield an acid (at least not to any 

 appreciable extent) when oxidized with a chromic-sulphuric acid mixture, but 

 when it was heated with a large excess of sodium in 95 per cent alcohol, the 

 corresponding carbinol was obtained whose properties differ somewhat from the 

 mother substance. . . . Not enough material was available for determining 

 the location of the carbonyl group in the ketone or the hydroxyl in the carbinol." 



Saccharification of inulin by the ultraviolet rays, L. Massol {Compt. Rend. 

 Soc. Biol. [Paris], 70 (1911), No. 13, pp. 509-511).— The ultraviolet rays were 

 found to saccharify inulin with the production of levulose and dextrose. Levu- 

 lose was produced in excess. 



Chemical composition of some higher fungi, A. Goris and M. Mascb6 

 (Compt. Rend. Acad. Sd. [Paris], 153 (1911), No. 22, pp. 1082-108!,; ahs. in 

 Jour. Chem-. Soc. [London], 102 (1912), No. 591, II, p. 79).— Fungi such as 

 Lactariiis piperatus, PsalUota cam^pestris, and others were included in this study. 



Carbamid, the author concludes, is not invariably present in the higher fungi, 

 the extent to which it occurs depending upon the season and mode of cultiva- 

 tion. Two cholesterols were isolated from fungi of different species, and a new 

 compound, apparently not a cholesterol, was found. 



Chemistry and biochemistry of lipoids, I. Bang (Chemie und Biochemie 

 Oer Lipoide. Wiesbaden, 1911, pp. XI+IST). — The first part of this book deals 

 with the general chemistry of the lipoid substances, fats, cholesterols, phos- 



