308 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



[Vol. 10 



RCH, NH, + H,0 — ► RCH,0H + NH, 



Tyrosol and fusel oil respectively were obtained from p-hydroxy- 

 phenyl-ethylamine and isoamylamine. Guggenheim and Loeffler 

 also showed this to take place in animal tissues. 



Ehrlich ('16) then worked with the trimethylated amino acid, 

 betaine, the secondary amine, adrenalin, and the tertiary amine, 

 hordenin, and found the utilization of these compounds by fungi 

 and yeasts analogous to the above. From betaine was obtained 

 glycollic acid and trimethylamine, the latter being hydrolyzed 

 by the organism to methyl alcohol and the directly usable 

 ammonia. Adrenalin was hydrolyzed to m-p-dihydroxyl-phenyl- 

 ethylene glycoll and monomethy lamine ; the poisonous hor- 

 denin, to the harmless tyrosol and dimethylamine, the amines 

 in both cases, as with betaine, being further hydrolyzed to NHi 

 and CH,OH. In concluding, this investigator emphasized the 

 use to which fungi may be put in the preparation of organic 

 compounds otherwise difficult or impossible to prepare. He also 

 pointed out the possibility that these reactions might throw light 

 on the question whether the alkaloids of green plants, which are 

 rich in alkylamines, are end products of metabolism or merely 

 intermediate compounds which undergo a further change. He 

 then emphasized the known relation of betaine and glycollic 

 acid in sugar beets. 



Completing the analogy, Ehrlich ('16) grew several organisms, 

 including Willia anomala, Oidium lactis, Pichia farinosa, Peni- 

 cillium glaucum, and Aspergillus niger, on varying concentrations 

 of alkaloids in the presence of various quantities of alcohol, or 

 of invert sugar as carbon sources. Among the alkaloids tried 

 were: cocaine, brucine, morphine, chinchonine, and nicotine. 

 Determining the dry weights of the organisms (where possible) 

 and the N in the mat, and observing the odor and appearance of 

 the culture, he came to the conclusion that compounds possessing 

 an easily split-off N group, as the piperidine group, are more 

 readily assimilable than others. Nicotine, for example, having 

 the easily detached pyrrolidine ring, is better than brucine, 

 morphine, and others in which the N group is held more closely. 

 The molds and bacteria of mixed cultures utilized more of the 

 alkaloids than did pure cultures of individual organisms. 



