A study of the chemical nature of vitamin B6 and methods for its preparation in a concentrated state

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Abstract
With the use of boiling water or alcohol only 25% of the contained vit. B6 is extracted from fish muscle, or from wheat germ about 40%. On autolysis quantitative extraction is obtained from wheat germ, but the yields from fish muscle are variable. For complete extraction from fish muscle, hydrolysis of the tissue by papain is necessary.[long dash]The vitamin is not precipitated by salts of Pb, Hg, or Ag, or by picric acid. It is adsorbed on fullers'' earth in acid solution, is precipitated by phosphotungstic acid, and migrates towards the cathode on electrodialysis. It is inactivated by benzoylation but not by the action of nitrous acid. It is soluble in ethyl alcohol, but is not extracted from a concentrated aqueous solution by acetone, amyl alcohol or ether. The vitamin therefore does not contain a primary amino-group but is of a basic nature and possibly contains a hydroxyl group. The observation by other workers that the vitamin is present in fats may be explained by our observation that fat has a sparing action on the vitamin.