NATURAL WAXES 357 



(Claviceps purpurea) . He noticed that the product was more strongly levo- 

 rotatory than cholesterol, and he showed that it differed from both choles- 

 terol and the phytosterols.^"-^'** In later investigations, Tanret prepared 

 exceedingly pure ergosterol, uncontaminated by the other fungus sterols. 

 He was thus able to determine the properties and to formulate the empirical 

 composition 2«9' -90 of ergosterol as C27H42O2. This formula, however, has 

 been shown by the work of Windaus and Liittringhaus^^' to be incorrect; 

 the empirical formula established by the latter investigators is C28H44O. 

 More recently this formula has been substantiated by a number of workers. 



Gerard, -9'-"'^^ after an extended study of the distribution of the sterols in 

 the plant world, came to the conclusion that a taxonomic relationship ob- 

 tains with the type of sterol present. He propounded a rule that phyto- 

 sterol is the characteristic sterol in the phanerogams, while ergosterol is 

 the predominant compound found in the cryptogams. Cholesterol had 

 long been accepted as the characteristic animal sterol. Gerard's rule is the 

 basis for the usual classification of sterols, but some exceptions to it do 

 occur. 



Ergosterol is found in such lower forms as brown algae, slime fungi, bac- 

 teria (Staphylococci), Mucor species, yeast, Penicillia, and the lichens. It 

 is highly probable that the "adipocire" isolated by Braconnot^-'* from 

 mushrooms was also ergosterol, as was the "fungine" of Vauquelin^" and 

 the "agaricine" of Gobley.^-*' The distribution of ergosterol in mushrooms 

 is discussed at length by Zellner.^^^ It has been found to be present in 

 some fungi as the palmitate ester. -9'' 



However, ergosterol is also definitely found in animal tissues. It is 

 stated that the cholesterol of commerce contains about 0.03% of ergosterol 

 as an impurity. ^^^ Ergosterol has been reported in one variety of snail 

 {Arion empiricorium) , to the extent of 19-25% of the sterols, -^^ and in the 

 earthworm (order Oligochaeta) in a proportion of 22% of the total ster- 

 Q^g 153,215,216 j^g presence in traces in many other animal tissues (including 

 those of the human) has been noted by a number of investigators. On the 

 other hand, it accounts for 90-100% of the total sterols in yeast. Cotton- 

 seed oil contains 7.5-25% of the sterols as ergosterol. It is likewise present 

 in corn, peanut, and linseed oils."^^^ The data on distribution are sum- 

 marized in Table 8. 



2*9 C. Tanret, Conipt. rend., 147, 75-77 (1908). 

 '"'« C. Tanret, Ann. chim. phijs. [8J, 15, 313-330 (1908). 



'^^ A. Windaus and A. Liittringhaus, Nachr. Ges. Wiss. Gotlingen, Math, physik. 

 Klasse III, 1932, 4-7 . 



•'92 E. Gerard, Compt. rend., II4, 1544-1546 (1892). 



=" E. Gerard, Compt. rend., 121, 723-726 (1895). 



2" E. Gerard, J. pharm. chim. [6], 1, 601-608 (1895). 



295 E. Gerard, Compt. rend., 126, 909-911 (1898). 



2'^ J. Zellner, Chemie der hoheren Pilze, Engelmann, Leipzig, 1907, pp. 27-39. 



»' A. E. Oxford and H. Raistrick, Biochem. J., 27, 1176-1180 (1933). 



"8 1. M. Heilbion, E. D. Kamm, and R. A. Morton, Biochem. J., 21, 1279-1283 (1927,^ . 



