Open AccessThe bacterial production of acetylmethylcarbinol and 2.3-butylene glycol from various substances.―II
Author(s) -
Arthur Harden,
Dorothy Norris
Publication year - 1912
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series b, containing papers of a biological character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9185
pISSN - 0950-1193
DOI - 10.1098/rspb.1912.0028
Subject(s) - chemistry , glyceraldehyde , nitric acid , fermentation , organic chemistry , enzyme , dehydrogenase
The action ofB. Subtilis (Cohn),B. mesentericus vulgatus (Flügge) (B. vulgatus (Flügge) Migula), andTyrothrix tenuis (Duclaux) (B. tenuis (Duclaux) L. and N.) on various substances has been investigated by Péré (1). This observer, on distilling his various culture media, obtained lævo-rotatory distillates strongly reducing to Fehling’s solution. In all cases he concluded that the volatile substance present was glyceraldehyde, and upon his results based a theory that sugars undergoing bacterial fermentation break down primarily to a triose, that is to say, glycerose. He was, however, unable to characterise his compound satisfactorily; for example, it did not give Schiff’s reaction, no osazone was obtainable, and although in some cases he obtained small quantities of lead, calcium, and barium salts of an acid formed by the oxidation of his volatile substance with nitric acid, which he took for salts of glyceric acid, the quantities analysed were so small that no reliance can be placed upon the results. Moreover, none of his salts was obtained in crystalline form.