III. INDrSTIUAI- I'KKPAUATION 411 



could not conipctc with the syntlu'tic i)i(>(luct ; its isolation on an indu.stiiMJ 

 scale nc\or staitiMJ. 



B. BIOSYNTHESIS OF THIAMINE IN YEAST 



I'sins selected trains of SacchnroDii/ccs rrra'is/acSciiultz el a/." could show 

 that thiamine has a stimulatinjj; elTect on the growth of these yeasts. The 

 two moieties of the thiamine, thiazole and pyrimidine, had a similar stimu- 

 lating etYect, especially when used together.'^ The authors developed their 

 obser\ation to a technical process for the production of yeast with high 

 vitamin content.'^ Such yeasts (with 200 units per gram, wet basis) were 

 sold by Standard Brands under the trade name Hi- Yeast for making en- 

 riched bread (1938-1943). In dry form the preparation is still used for 

 pharmaceutical purposes. 



C. SYNTHESIS 



If the isolation of thiamine from natural sources is interesting, the 

 history of the industrial synthesis is dramatic, as from 1935 three groups 

 were in the final race: in this country ^^'illiams ct ah; in Germany Andersag 

 and Westphal in the laboratories of the I. G. Farbenindustrie in Elberfeld; 

 and Todd and Bergel in England. The scientific priority without any doubt 

 falls to Williams with his first publication of the complete synthesis in 

 August 1936.^^ The claims of priority for Andersag and Westphal made by 

 H. Horlein^^ were based on their earlier patent applications, which were 

 pubfished much later. Todd and BergeP" published their synthesis about 

 eight months after WilUams, only to find out that Andersag and WestphaP" 

 had already filed a German patent application for the same process more 

 than a j^ear pre\dously. 



'» H. W. Kinnersley, J. R. O'Brien, and R. A. Peters, Biochem. J. 27, 232 (1933); 29, 



716 (1935). 

 " L. R. Cerecedo and D. J. Hennessy, /. Am. Chem. Soc. 59, 1617 (1937); L. R. Cere- 



cedo and F. J. Kaszuba, ibid. 59, 1619 (1937); L. R. Cerecedo and J. J. Thornton 



ibid. 59, 1621 (1937); L. R. Cerecedo, U.S. Pat. 2,114,775 (April 19, 1938). 

 » R. D. Greene and A. Black, J. Atn. Chem. Soc. 59, 1395 (1937). 

 " II. R. Rosenberg, Chemistry and Physiology of the Vitamins, p. US. Interscience 



Publishers, New York, 1942. 

 '< A. S. Schultz, L. Atkin, and C. N. Frey, /. Am. Chem. Soc. 59, 948, 2457 (1937); 



U.S. Pat. 2,249,789 (July 22, 1941). 

 '* A. S. Schultz, L. Atkin, and C. N. Frey, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 60, 490 (1938). 

 '« Standard Brands, British Pats. 532,013 (January 15, 1941); 529,825 (September 25, 



1941); A. S. Schultz, L. Atkins, and C. N. Frey, U.S. Pats. 2,262,735 (November 



11, 1941); 2,233,956 (November 9, 1943) ; 2,354,281 (July 25, 1944). 

 " R. R. Williams and J. K. Cline, ./. /Im. Chem.. Soc. 58, 1504 (1936) 

 '8 H. Ilorlein, Z. physiol. Chem. 253, 82 (1938). 

 " A. R. Todd and F. Bergel, /. Chem. Soc. 1937, 364. 

 " H. Andersag and K. Westphal, German Pat. 685,032 ex. 3 (filed January 29, 1936, 



issued Nov. 16, 1939). 



