52 THE SIMPLER NATURAL BASES 



Myokynine (1-Hexamethylornithine ?), C n H 28 O 4 N 2 . 



Working with Kutscher's method, Ackermann [1912, 2] has isolated 

 from the lysine fraction of an extract of dog's muscle a platini- 

 chloride C n H 30 O 4 N 2 PtCl 6 , insoluble in ethyl alcohol, mp. 233-234. 

 The corresponding base was laevo-rotatory and gave off two molecular 

 proportions of trimethylamine on heating with baryta. The composi- 

 tion of the platinichloride agrees with that of a platinum salt of hexa- 

 methylornithine with 2H 2 O. Hexamethylornithine was, therefore, 

 prepared by methylating ornithine, and was found to be dextro-rotatory 

 and to yield a platinichloride with iH 2 O melting at 232-233. It is 

 not unlikely, therefore, that myokynine is the enantiomorph of the 

 synthetic base, having the constitution : 



/OH HO X 

 (CH 3 ) 3 : N<^ ^>N : (CH 3 ) 3 



CH 2 . CH 2 . CH 2 . CH . COOH 



Later Ackermann [1913, I] obtained 3 grm. of the same platini- 

 chloride from 30 kilos, of fresh horse meat. The base contains one 

 carboxyl group. Unlike the natural base, synthetic hexamethylorni- 

 thine gives a pyrrole reaction when heated with zinc dust. Ackermann 

 points out that ornithine to some extent resembles glycine (compare 

 the formation of ornithuric and hippuric acids) ; trimethyl-glycine 

 or betaine has already been isolated from the muscles of a number 

 of animals. 



