102 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1072 



cure excellent constants for Ki and Km, the activ- 

 ity of the ethylate or methylate ion, and the non- 

 ionized sodium ethylate or methylate respectively. 



G. D. Beal and H. F. Lewis: Studies on Allca- 



loidal Salts. I. Strychnine Salts. 



Preliminary notice of the work being done at 

 the University of Illinois, under the auspices of 

 the Pharmaceutical Research Fund. 



Methods of alkaloidal assay by the use of im- 

 miscible solvents are being studied. Salts of 

 strychnine with tartaric, hydrochloric and sul- 

 phuric acid have been made and their solubilities 

 investigated. Solvents used were ether, chloro- 

 form, water-saturated chloroform, alcohol and 

 water. The distribution coefficient was determined 

 using the formula C'/C" = d, C being the con- 

 centration of the salt in the chloroform layer, C" 

 the concentration of the salt in the aqueous layer. 

 This was done with both neutral and acid solutions 

 of the salt with chloroform. 



C. S. Hudson and J. K. Dale: A Comparison of 

 the Optical Jtotatory Powers of the Alpha and 

 Seta Forms of Certain Acetylated Derivatives 

 of Glucose. 



After careful purification, the alpha and beta 

 forms of glucose pentacetate (molecular weight 

 390) were found to have the specific rotations 

 -f 102° and + 4°, respectively, in chloroform. 

 The corresponding alpha and beta forms of 

 tetraeetyl methylglueoside (m. w. 362) showed 

 i^Si — + 131° and — 18°. The sum of the 

 molecular rotations of the alpha and beta forms is 

 thus 41,300 for the glucose pentacetates and 40,- 

 900 for the tetraeetyl methyl glucosides. The 

 agreement conforms to theoretical considerations. 

 The paper appears in full in the Journal of the 

 American Chemical Society. 



C. S. Hudson and J. M. Johnson: The Isomeric 

 Alpha and Beta Octacetates of Maltose and of 

 Cellose. 



By heating the beta octaeetate of maltose, of 

 m.p. 159-60°, with acetic anhydride and zinc 

 chloride, it was transformed to the new isoineric 

 crystalline alpha maltose octaeetate of m. p. 125°. 

 The specific rotations in chloroform are -|- 122° 

 for the alpha form and + 63° for the beta. After 

 careful purification, the known alpha and beta 

 octacetates of cellose show (a)^:^-l-41° and 

 — 15°, respectively, in chloroform. The difference 

 of the rotations of the alpha and beta forms is 



thus 59° for maltose octaeetate, 56° for cellose 

 octaeetate, and 57° has been found previously for 

 the forms of lactose octaeetate. From the rota- 

 tion of the glucose pentacetates, the value 56° may 

 be calculated. The four pairs of substances are 

 thus in excellent agreement with theory. The 

 paper will be published in full in the Journal of 

 the American Chemical Society. 



C. S. Hudson and J. K. Dale: The Isomeric 



Pentacetates of Mannose. 



The expected form of mannose pentacetate has 

 been prepared in a crystalline state by the method 

 described in the preceding abstract. The new 

 isomer melts at 64° and shows dextrorotation 

 ('')J°= + 55°, in chloroform. Fischer found the 

 beta pentacetate to melt at 117.5° and to show 

 (a)^ = — 25°, in chloroform, which we have con- 

 firmed. The difference between the rotations of 

 the two isomers is thus 80° in comparison with the 

 value 98° found for the two forms of glucose 

 pentacetate. Full paper will be published in the 

 Journal of the American Chemical Society. 



C. S. Hudson and H. O. Parker: The Isomeric 



Pentacetates of Galactose. 



By the same method (see preceding) galactose 

 pentacetate has been transformed to a crystalline 

 isomer of m. p. 96° and specific rotation -|- 106° 

 in chloroform. The new substance is evidently 

 the alpha galactose pentacetate, since the earlier 

 discovered form rotates + 23°, and is thus the 

 beta pentacetate. The difference between the ro- 

 tations of the two isomers is 83°, which differs 

 somewhat from the value in the case of the glu- 

 cose pentacetate (98°), and agrees with the value 

 found for the mannose pentacetates. 



C. S. Hudson and D. H. Brauns: Crystalline D- 



Fructose Pentacetate. 



By acetylating very pure fructose with acetie 

 anhydride and sulphuric acid below 0°, a beauti- 

 fully crystalline pentacetate of fructose has been 

 prepared. It melts at 109-09° and shows levorota- 

 tion (a)™:= — 121° in chloroform. Paper in full 

 will be published in the Journal of the American 

 Chemical Society. 



C. S. Hudson: The Existence of a Third Pentace- 

 tate of Galactose. 



It is found that the acetylation of galactose with 

 acetic anhydride and sodium acetate yields in addi- 

 tion to the well-known first pentacetate of the 



