CO . CO . NH 



OXIDATION-PRODUCTS 

 CO . CO . NH 



247 



NH 



C.NH NH 



NH 

 CH 2 

 CH 



CHNH 



COOH 



Removal of remainder R.H and 

 oxidation of terminal group 



IV. 



COOH 



oxalan. ring- formation accompanied by amide 



+ or anhydrite-grouping = 



ornithin. kreatinin. 



Y. VI., 



which show the formation of urea and ornithin (II.) ; the union 

 of arginin with any other amino-acid, such as glycocoll or tyrosin, or 

 even di-amino-acid ; for example lysin and arginin (HI.), the formation 

 of oxalan or oxalur-amide and ornithin (IV.) and (V.). This way of 

 deriving oxalan, as Seemann points out, is a further support of Hof- 

 meister's theory as to the union of amino-acids, for, apart from this 

 arginin compound, the only other complex from which oxalan could be 

 derived is leucin imide, see p. 33. Should even arginin not be the 

 mother substance of the free guanidin found by Kutscher and Otori l 

 in auto-digested pancreas, and by Otori 2 amongst the hydrolytic 

 products of pseudo-mucin, and should guanidin even be derived from 

 an as yet unknown complex, the derivation of oxaluric acid from a 

 guanidin -compound would still hold good. 3 The volatile products 

 obtained by means of oxidation were first studied by Liebig. On 

 oxidising gelatine, by means of chromic acid, Schlieper 4 obtained : 



Nitrites : hydrocyanic acid, valero-nitrite and (?) valero-aceto- 



nitrite. 



Acids : acetic-, valerianic-, and benzoic acids. 

 Oil : smelling of cinnamon. 



1 Kutscher and Otori, ZentraM. f. Physiol. 18. 248 (1904). 



2 Otori, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem. 42. 453. 



3 Apart from any question of oxidation, Seemann points out the possibility of kreatinin 

 being derived directly from arginin. See formula VI. 



4 A. Schlieper, Liebig s Annalen, 59. 1 (1846). 



