Studies on enzyme action. XXIV.—The oxidase effect and the phenomena of oxidation in general: Carbonic oxide

In 1904 I presented a brief communication to the Society on “ The Retardation of Combustion by Oxygen ” (‘ Proceedings,’ vol. 74, p. 86). Friends smiled at the title and no notice has been taken of my argument. Of late years, however, Moureu and his fellow-workers have brought before the French Academy a series of masterly studies of the inhibition of the oxidation of highly oxidisable materials, such as acrolein and linseed oil, by substances which are themselves oxidisable, including phenol and potassium iodide. The explanation they have put forward, involving the recognition of an active antagonism between peroxides, which constitute a reversing mechanism, is essentially that I have long held, the difference being mainly that I have gone more fully into the details of the process. In a recent fascinating brief communication to the Chemical Society (‘ Chem. Soc. Journ.,’ 1925, p. 1), Moureu and Dufraisse discuss the stoppage, by carbonic oxide, of the interaction of hydrogen and oxygen, at a platinum surface, contending that this also is an instance of inhibition owing to the antagonism of incompatible “ peroxides,” formed in the initial stages of change. I fully share their views and regard this communication as the settlement of a problem of prime importance which has been open to solution since early in last century (1833). I have discussed the peculiar “ indifferent ” behaviour of carbonic oxide on many occasions before the Society and elsewhere. I would now take one further and perhaps final step, and proclaim it to beper se an incombustible gas. If the process of combustion be, as I have frequently argued, one in which an electrolytic determinant is concerned (comp. First Messel Memorial Lecture, ‘ Soc. Chem. Ind.,’ 1922, pp. 253-270T), primarily as represented by the schematic equation it is one involving the electrolysis of water, and the “ energy ” developed in the interaction must be at least equal to that involved in the combustion of hydrogen. Actually, the heat of combustion of carbonic oxide is below that of hydrogen (67960 : 68360).