SYNTHESIS IN THE PLANT 325 



question Baudisch * conducted experiments outsifli; the plant, 

 to ascertain the effect of light upon nitrates and nitrites. He 

 found that potassium nitrate, on exposure to diff"use daylight, 

 loses oxygen, and likewise potassium nitrite mixed with 

 formaldehyde or methyl alcohol was, by exposure to diffused 

 daylight, reduced to potassium hyponitrite ; the latter com- 

 pound, however, combined with formaldehyde to give the 

 potassium salt of form-hydroxamic acid — 



CH30H + KN02 = OHCH:NOK + H,0 



Prolonged exposure to light caused the reduction to ammonia, 

 and led to the production of potassium carbonate ; the follow- 

 ing gases were also evolved, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, 

 oxygen, nitrous oxide and hydrogen, — an element which has 

 been stated to be given off by plants. f As a result of these 

 experiments, Baudisch comes to the conclusion that in the 

 plant ammonia is oxidized by oxidases or by ultra-violet light ; 

 the resulting product then combines at once with formalde- 

 hyde to give aci-nitromethane CHg = NOOH, a substance 

 isomeric with formhydroxamic acid. Aci-nitromethane is 

 known to be very reactive, and it is shown by a number of 

 equations to be capable of giving rise to several more or less 

 complex substances frequently found in plants. 



The hydrolysis of proteins yields amino acids, such as 

 leucine, asparagine, and tyrosine, which also occur in protein- 

 containing seeds. If the stages in the destruction and con- 

 struction of proteins correspond, i.e. if the action be reversible, 

 then the synthesis of amino acids becomes the first problem ; 

 the second is the linking together of these substances to form 

 the finished product. Zaleski t considers that the action is 

 reversible and that the amino acids formed in the hydrolysis 

 of proteins are also involved in their synthesis. He found 



1. 2KN03-$.2KNO„ + 0., 



2. KNO., _^ HNO2 (by the activity of the acid of the cell sap) 



CH-NH^-COOH CHOH-COOH 



3. 2HNO., + I -^ I +2H„0+2N., 



CH./CONH3 CHoCOOH 



Asparagine 



* Baudisch: " Ber. deut. chem. Gesells.," igii, 44, 1009. 

 tPolacci: " Atti. Inst. Bot. Pavia," 1902, 7, 97. 



JZaleski: "Ber. deut. bot. Gesells.," 1905,23, 126; " Beih. bot. Centralbl.," 

 191 1, 27, 63. 



