JOURNAL OF MCdTlAL RESEARCH 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Vol. I Washington, D. C., February 16, 1914 No. 5 
THE PRESENCE OF SOME BENZENE DERIVATIVES 
IN SOILS 
By Edmund C. Shorey, 
Scientist in Soil-Fertility Investigations , Bureau of Soils 
INTRODUCTION 
The isolation of organic compounds from soils may have an interest 
other than that of the purely scientific nature attached to any increase 
in our knowledge of the composition of soils. This is true, not only 
when the compounds are known to be readily reactive with other com¬ 
pounds or to have an effect on the microflora of the soil or the growth 
of higher plants, but also when their constitution indicates that they 
may have such an effect. Recently three organic compounds have been 
isolated from soils that seem to be of this nature. 
These compounds, rather closely related in constitution, are benzoic 
acid, metaoxytoluic acid, and vanillin. They were obtained from 
samples of sandy soil from Florida at present devoted to orange culture. 
These soils are composed of quartz sand ranging in color from light gray 
to brown and contain very little organic matter. For the most part 
this organic matter is deposited in a thin layer on the grains of sand, so 
that when the soils are treated with dilute alkali and the film of organic 
material is thereby dissolved or loosened pure white quartz sand remains. 
The samples, about 90 kilograms in each case, were from eight loca¬ 
tions, the top soil and subsoil being represented by separate samples. 
BENZOIC ACID 
Benzoic acid was obtained from but one of these samples—a subsoil. 
There was no indication of its presence in the corresponding surface soil, 
and, although indications were obtained of its presence in other subsoils 
of this series, it could not be isolated in a pure form in sufficient quantity 
for identification. 
The method by which benzoic acid was obtained from this soil was as 
follows: 
The soil was treated at room temperature with a 2 per cent solution of 
sodium hydroxid for six hours, allowed to stand several hours, and the 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Dept, of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
( 357 ) 
Vol. I, No. s 
Feb. 16,1914 
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