1 8 FATS, OILS, AND WAXES 



Phytosterols. 



The term phytosterol was at one time employed to 

 designate a definite chemical individual of the formula 

 C 27 H 45 OH, but it is now used more as a generic term to include 

 a number of different substances having certain properties 

 in common. Thus Windaus and Hauth* showed that the 

 substance obtained from Calabar beans and commonly known 

 as phytosterol was in reality a mixture of two substances 

 (a] Sitosterol of the formula C 27 H 45 OH, and () Stigmasterol 

 C 30 H 47 OH, an observation which has been confirmed by 

 Sal way. f 



Similarly Klobb \ describes a dextro-rotatory phytosterol of 

 the formula C 31 H 52 O, 3H 2 O occurring in Anthemis nobilis and 

 a number of laevo-rotatory phytosterols of different formulae 

 obtained from Matricaria Chamomilla, Tilia europaea, Linaria 

 vulgaris, and Verbascum Thapsus.^ 



All vegetable fats contain phytosterol, the amount varying 

 from about 0*13 to 0*30 per cent and rising in the case of pea 

 fat and the fat of Calabar beans to a considerably higher value. 

 In the case of the wheat, the grain of which contains sitosterol 

 whilst the bran contains a different phytosterol, the amounts 

 of these substances differ in the various parts of the plant. 

 The percentage present in the green parts is higher than the 

 percentage occurring in the grain which is somewhat greater 

 as compared with the percentage in etiolated plants. The 

 fact that the highest percentage occurs in the embryo suggests 

 a function in connexion with germination and growth ; not 

 necessarily a direct nutritive function since a starved plant 

 contains as much as the grain. II 



The phytosterols are widely distributed in the vegetable 

 kingdom : in addition to the higher plants, they occur in 

 Sphagnum, Laminaria> Agaricus, Lactarius, and Polyporus. 1 1 



* Windaus and Hauth : " Ber. deut. chem. Gesells.," 1906, 39, 4378 ; 1907, 

 40, 3681. 



fSalway : "J. Chem. Soc.," 1911, 99, 2154. 



% Klobb : " Compt. rend.," 1911, 152, 327 ; " Ann. Chim. Phys.," 1911, viii., 

 24, 410. 



See also Power and Rogerson : " J. Chem. Soc.," 1910, 97, 1951 ; Rogerson : 

 "Amer. Journ. Pharm.," 1911, 83, 59; " J. Chem. Soc.," 1912, IOI, 1040. 



I! Ellis: " Biochem. Journ.," 1918, 12, 154, 160, 173. 



