Figure 14.. — Edvard Buchner (1860-1917) 

 received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 

 for his discovery of cell-free fermentation, 

 the first step in finding the role of phos- 

 phate in fermentations (1907). 



that specifically act on them. They are called phos- 

 phatases to imply that they split the phosphatides. 

 In addition, enzymes are present, which transfer 

 phosphate groups from one compound to another. 

 They are more abundant in seeds of high fat content 

 than in the more starch-containing seeds, but even 

 potatoes and orange juice have phosphatases. 3 ' 



Thus, from phosphatides, phosphoric acid is gener- 

 ated, and they could also be called phosphagens. 

 Since 1926, however, the name phosphagens has been 

 reserved for a group of organic substances that release 

 their phosphoric acid very readily. The link between 

 phosphorus and carbon is provided by oxygen in the 

 phosphatides, by nitrogen in the phosphagens. In 

 vertebrates, the basis for the phosphoric acid is 

 creatine, whereas invertebrates have arginine instead. 



Ludwig Thudichum (1829-1901). He coined the 



ik ■ phosphatides for this group of substances from 



seeds and nerves. 29 His work on the phosphates in 

 brain substance aroused particular interest. When 

 H 1II1.1111 Crookes drew his highly imaginative picture 

 of an '"evolution" of the chemical elements, he put 

 into it "phosphorus for the brain, salt for the sea, clay 

 for the solid earth . . . ." 3 " But phosphatide soccur 

 in many places of organisms, in bacteria, in leaves 

 and loots of plants, in fat and tissues of animals. And 

 where phosphatides are found, there are also enzymes 



-■I.. Thudichum, Die chemischt Constitution del Gehirns des 

 Wenschen urn/ da Tiere (1901); see also 11. WittCoff, The 

 Phosphatides (New York: Reinhold, 1951). 



m William ('hkikis, British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, Reports (1887), sec. li. p. 573. 



Nuclein and Nucleic Acids 



All parts of an organism are essential for life. Only 

 with this in mind does it make sense to say that the 

 most important part of the cell is its nucleus. From 

 the nuclei of cells in pus and in salmon sperm, 

 Johann Friedrich Miescher (1811-1887) obtained a 

 peculiar kind of substance, which he named nuclein 

 (1868). Its phosphate content was easily discovered, 

 but to find the exact proportions and the nature of the 

 other components required special methods of separa- 

 tion from phosphatides and other proteins. It was 

 difficult to develop such methods at a time when little 

 was known about the properties, and particularly 



31 J. E. Courtois and A. Lino, Progress in the Chemistry of 

 Organic Natural Products, edit. I.. Zechmeister (Vienna: Springer 

 Verlag, 1961 I, vol. 19, p. 116-373. 



192 



BULLETIN 240: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



