BETAINES 43 



is formed during germination in Vicia sativa and trigonelline in Pisum 

 sativum. In a later paper Stanek [1911, 2] has concluded that there 

 is more betaine in the dry substance of the young leaves than in that of 

 the old, that betaine is formed during the germination of the seeds and 

 that it travels from the roots to the leaves during the sprouting ; the 

 base collects in the etiolated leaves and on ripening of the organs it 

 disappears, probably because it travels back into the root. This latter 

 conclusion is not shared by Schulze and Trier [1910, I] who consider 

 betaine to be a waste product which no longer takes part in metabolism 

 (see also Trier [1912, 3, pp. 83-7 ; Ch. IV, choline]). These authors 

 point out that yeast cannot utilise betaine as a source of nitrogen 

 (Stanek and Miskovsky [1907]) and that betaines pass unchanged 

 through the animal organism. Some other fungi do utilise betaine, 

 however. Ehrlich and Lange [1913] have shown that, in contra- 

 distinction to ordinary cultivated yeasts, some wild yeasts like Willia 

 anomala transform betaine to glycollic acid : 



(CH 3 ) 3 N . CH 2 . COO + H 2 O = CH 2 (OH) . COOH + N(CH 3 ) 3 



This is analogous to the change of primary amines, described on page 

 25. In any case it seems justifiable to draw the conclusion from 

 Stanek's experiments that betaine occurs most abundantly in those 

 parts of the plant where the vegetative processes are most active, and 

 Schulze and Trier consider that betaines collect in young leaves be- 

 cause they are formed there. Young orange leaves also contain a 

 greater proportion of stachydrine than the old ones. 



Stachydrine, C 7 H 13 O 2 N. 



Von Planta [1890] discovered a base in the edible tubers of 

 Stachys tuberifera. The base closely resembled betaine but yielded 

 an aurichloride with a smaller gold content ; it was further investigated 

 by von Planta and Schulze [1893, i, 2] who found it had the compo- 

 sition C 7 H 13 O 2 N, and Jahns [1896] isolated the same base from the 

 leaves of the orange tree (Citrus vulgaris] and proved the presence of a 

 carboxyl-group. Stachydrine is also present in the flowers of Chry- 

 santhemum cinerariczfolium and in Galeopsis ochroleuca (Yoshimura and 

 Trier [1912]) and (with betonicine) in Betonica officinalis (Schulze and 

 Trier [1912, I, section on betaine]). Stachydrine gives off dimethyl- 

 amine on heating with potassium hydroxide, and since it contains 

 two hydrogen atoms less than is required for a homologue of betaine, 

 Jahns considered it to be dimethylamino-angelic acid. The base is, 

 however, stable to potassium permanganate, and the deficiency of two 



