SYNTHETIC SOURCE OF GLYCOCOLL 111 



of actual glycocoll, it may be deduced that the glycocoll com- 

 ponent or a predecessor thereof originates in the liver of the 

 rabbit under the influence of benzoic acid. 



Behavior of Benzoylated Aminoacids. How are all 

 these considerations to be harmonized? The possibility has 

 been suggested that the benzoic acid primarily binds the 

 NH 2 group of the aminoacids and adheres to it, the remain- 

 ing carbon skeleton of the molecule undergoing disin- 

 tegration : 



LEUCIN BENZOYLrLBUCIN HIPPUBIC ACID 



CH| CHj CHj 



CH CH CH 2 .NH CO.C.H, 



CH 2 > CH 2 > COOH. 



CH.NH 2 CHNH CO.CaHt 



COOH COO 



H 



A number of feeding experiments by Magnus-Levy with 

 benzoylated aminoacids cannot be regarded as supporting 

 this theory. 40 



Synthetic Source of Glycocoll from Acetic Acid and 

 Ammonia. At present appearances again favor the idea 

 that glycocoll may originate synthetically from ammonia and 

 acetic acid. E. Cohn 41 years ago observed in the laboratory 

 of Jaffe in Heidelberg that /*-nitrobenzaldehyde or 

 /A-toluidine, introduced into a living rabbit, was transformed 

 into At-aminobenzoic acid, but that this combined with acetic 

 acid: 



NITROBENZ ALDEHYDE AMINOBENZOIC ACETYLAMINOBENZOIC 



ACID ACID 



NO 2 NH 2 NH.CO.CH, 



CsH 4 / > CeH/ 



COH COOH COOH. 



These examples of a combination of acetic acid with am- 

 monia rests suggested the idea of determining whether the 



40 A. Magnus-Levy, Biochem. Zeitschr., 6, 541, 1907. 



* R. Cohn, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 17, 274, 1892; Arch. f. exper. Pathol., 

 55, 435, 1905. 



