The isolation of a product of hydrolysis of the proteins hitherto undescribed

Some time ago, two of the authors of the present communication, in seeking a method for the separation of the amino-acids from the carbohydrates, found that under certain conditions the former could be readily separated in the form of the barium salts of their carbamates, a class of compounds originally described by Siegfried. As these carbamates, on heating with water, are readily decomposed into barium carbonate and the free amino-acid, it was suggested that a convenient method might be evolved, using the formation of these compounds as a basis, for the separation of the hydrolysis products of the proteins.* This suggestion was followed up, and a method was subsequently elaborated and applied to the separation of the hydrolysis products of gelatin by one of the authors in conjunction with Miss H. L. Kingston. Since the publication of the two papers just quoted, the researches on the use of the “carbamate method,” as it may be conveniently called, have been continued, and promise results, which may ultimately lead to a satisfactory separation of most of the hydrolysis products of the proteins when only relatively small amounts of material are available for investigation. During the course of this work the base, which is the chief subject discussed in this paper, was discovered.