x THE PROTEIDS 439 



3. A phenyl-hydrazon on treatment with phenyl-hydrazin 

 acetate. 



The watery solution of bevulinic acid, after neutralising with 

 ammonia, was converted into a silver salt AgC 5 H 7 3 . 



Levene in a second paper, 1 using Inouye's methods of testing for 

 the presence of Isevulinic acid, obtained positive results with the 

 nucleic acids of the spleen, pancreas, testis, and brain. 



As laevulinic acid cannot be derived from a pentose, but only 

 from a hexose, it shows that hexoses must occur in nucleic acids 

 in addition to pentoses. 



A saccharic acid has been obtained by Alsberg 2 by acting on 

 salmon-nucleic acid with barium-hydrate, while by the action of 

 mineral acids he obtained Isevulinic acid. That a hexose in the form 

 of a very stable polysaccharid occurs in nucleic acids seems to be 

 shown by the investigations of Levene. 3 By acting for four hours 

 with 2 per cent H 2 S0 4 on thymo-nucleic acid in an autoclave at 

 .a temperature of 100 to 125, Levene obtained an acid resembling 

 Neumann's nucleo-thyminic acid, for it is soluble in dilute mineral 

 acids and contains 12 -33 per cent N and 11 '33 per cent P. This 

 acid is more readily soluble in alkalies than is the original acid, and 

 it does not gelatinise. When this acid was still more dissociated by 

 10 per cent H 2 S0 4 , most of the purin and pyrimidin radicals and the 

 mother-substance giving the furfurol reaction were destroyed, but a 

 hexose radical must still have been present, for on boiling' equal 

 amounts of the substance obtained by the action of 10 per cent 

 H 2 S0 4 and of the original nucleic acid with 25 per cent H 2 S0 4 , the 

 original nucleic acid yielded less Isevulinic acid. 



Ammonia has been found by Kossel and Neumann, 4 Noll, 5 

 Bang, 6 and Bottazzi ; 7 formic acid by Kossel and Neumann, 4 and 

 Neumann, 8 but both ammonia and formic acid are probably formed 

 secondarily. 9 The simple pyrimidin derivatives are, on the other 

 hand, certainly primary dissociation-products, and are not derived from 

 the purins. Bang's 9 statement that the pancreas -nucleic acid 

 contains glycerine has not yet been confirmed. 



1 P. A. Levene, Zeitschr. f. physiol Chem. 43. 199 (1904). 



2 C. L. Alsberg, Arch.f. experim. PathoL 51. 239 (]904). 



3 P. A. Levene, Amer. Journ. of Physiol. 12. 213 (1904). 



4 A. Kossel and A. Neumann, Ber. d. deutsch. chem. Ges. 27. II. 2215 (1894). 



5 Noll, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem. 25. 430 (1898). 



6 J. Bang, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem. 26. 133 (1898). 



7 F. Bottazzi, Zentralbl.f. Physiol. 18. 98 (1904). 



8 A. Neumann, Arch. f. (Anat. u.) Physiol. 1898, p. 374. 



9 J. Bang, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem. 31. 411 (1900). 



