FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS OF THE RELATION BETWEEN THE CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION AND THE GERMICIDAL ACTIVITY OF ALCOHOLS AND PHENOLS

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Abstract
Continuing work reported in a previous paper, the authors determined the phenol coefficients of various additional monohydric alcohols and phenols and also of various resorcinols and the corresponding intermediate ketones. Results with monohydric alcohols and phenols confirmed previous work and in conjunction with it indicated that the germicidal activity of isomeric alcohols and phenols depends upon the position of the constituent groups. Among isomeric alcohols, greatest efficiency is shown by compounds having the longest straight chains; among isomeric phenols, by compounds having the longest straight chains in a position para to the hydroxyl group. Germicidal activity of resorcinols and corresponding ketones was found to increase at a rate expressed by ratios between successive coefficients, on a molar basis, of 3.37 for the normal resorcinols, 3.1 for the isoresorcinols, and 3.0 for the normal ketones. The higher phenols and higher resorcinols were found to be relatively much more efficient against Staphylococcus aureus than against Bacillus typhosus.