NOTES ON THE SPROUTING COCONUT, ON COPRA, AND 

 ON COCONUT OIL. 



By Herbert S. Walker. 

 (From the Chemical Laboratory, Bureau of Science, Manila, P. I.) 



CONTENTS. 



I. Experiments on Enz'siies in the Coconut. 



II. Changes in the Composition of the Coconut while Sprouting. 

 HI. The Action on Copra of Microorganisms in Pure Culture. 

 IV. The Production of Free Acid in Comsiercial Coconut Oil on Long 

 Standing. 



I. EXPERIMENTS ON ENZYMES IN THE COCONUT. 



The following experiments were made in an endeavor to discover if 

 the coconut, like the castor bean and many other oil seeds, contains a 

 fat-splitting enzyme capable of saponifying outside of the growing nut. 



COCONUT foot. 



Experiment I. — One hundred grams of the fresh foot in a sprouting coconut 

 were ground with sand and water, and the expressed liquor was strained through 

 clotli. One per cent of toluol was added and tlie whole allowed to stand on ice 

 over night. 



{a) Five cubic centimeters of water, 1 of fresh Ui]twr and 0.2.5 of ethyl 



Ijutyrate were kept in a water hath at 40° for fifteen minutes and then titrated ; 



N 

 there were required 0.48 cubic centimeters of — - potassium hydrfixide for 



neutralization. Tlie mixture was allowed to stand until the next day, when it 



took 0.12 cubic centimeter more of tlie. same solution of alkali. 



(6) Five cubic centimeters of water, 1 of the hoiled liquor and 0.25 of ethyl 



butyrate were placed under the same conditions as the above for fifteen minutes 



in a water bath; there were required for neutralization 0.45 cubic centimeters of 



N 



— potassium hydroxide and on the next day 0.11 cubic centimeter moi'e. 



(c) Five cubic centimeters of water, 1 of fresh liquor, 0.25 of etliyl butj'rate, 



N 

 1 drop of phenolphthalei'n, 0.28 cubic centimeter of — potassium hydroxide 



and 0.1 of toluol were placed in a water bath for thirty minutes, then stood 



N 

 at room temperature until the next dav, wlien O.Ofl cubic centimeters of — 

 ' • 10 



potassium hydroxide were required for neutralization. 



{(/) The conditions wei'e the same as in (c) witli the exception tliat boiled 



111 



