A method for the preparation of alimentary products containing vitamin B is described as follows:17a Wheat bran, or the husk of other edible seeds, is dried at 38° C. under reduced pressure and ground; the powder may be used as such or an aqueous infusion may be prepared from it which can be mixed with gelatin, etc., and formed into tablets - or it may be evaporated under reduced pressure to produce a dry powder. Filtration of the infusion is optional.

Water-soluble B also is prepared from wheat germ. This material is treated by McClendon's process in the same manner as in making a concentrate of fat-soluble A from green leaves (See p. Ill) up to the stage of pressing out the extract, except that 80 per cent alcohol is used. The press-cake is ground in a mill and extracted again in the same manner. The press juices are concentrated in a vacuum pan to about one-tenth of the original volume or until a precipitate starts to form. An equal volume of water is now added and hydrochloric acid is introduced slowly and with stirring until a bulky and sticky precipitate collects. This is filtered off and the precipitate washed with distilled water and the washings are added to the filtrate. The precipitate is dried and extracted with bensol in an extraction apparatus and the benzol is evaporated. The residue contains some of the wheat oil. The filtrate is brought to pH - 4 to 5 and is fermented until the reducing sugar is lowered to about 1 per cent of the original value. The yeast is filtered off and added to the next batch of wheat germ and the filtrate is evaporated to dryness.

In both the filtrate and the bensol extract, water soluble B is in quite concentrated form and there is practically no loss except the portion absorbed by the yeast and which would be recovered in the next batch. A very small dose of either the lipoid or water-soluble fraction will cure a pigeon of polyneuritis. The lipoid fraction will revive the hypodynamic heart of a turtle, but the water-soluble fraction is not efficacious. Both fractions stimulate growth.17b.

16 A special form of fuller's earth. 17 Frankel and Schwarz, Bioch. Zeitsch., 1020, 112, 203. 17a "Forget-me-not-Flours" Ltd., and B. Hutchinson. British Patent 161,238, Dec. 23,1919; J. 8. C. I. June, 1921, 406A.

In view of the rather extensive use of yeast as a source of B the following process for improving the taste of yeast and rendering it more digestible, is of interest.17c The yeast may first be treated with a solution containing ammonium or sodium carbonate or borax and washed to remove the bitter flavor, and disintegrated in any known way. It is then treated with hydrogen at a pressure of 100 to 200 atmospheres and a temperature of 100o to 130o C. The liquid thus obtained may be used directly, mixed with fats or oils to form an artificial milk, or dialysed by electro-osmosis or otherwise to remove salts. The action is facilitated by the presence of small quantities of sodium chloride, or organic acids such as formic, acetic, tartaric, or citric acid. The yeast may also be first reduced to a dry powder and treated with hydrogen in this state. Catalysts such as nickel or palladium may be employed in masses, but not as powder. Higher temperatures and lower pressures may be employed, in which case the yeast must be washed after treatments.

Vitamin C as found in fruit juices appears to be very easily concentrated. Harden and Zilva18 prepared an active antiscorbutic from lemon juice by precipitating the organic acids with calcium carbonate and evaporating the filtered juice in vacuo at 30° C, and Harden and Robinson 19 report that fruit juices dried in vacuo at low temperatures retain a considerable fraction of their original antiscorbutic potency even after the lapse of two years.20 Basaett-Smith 21 has devised the following process by which antiscorbutic lozenges may be prepared from lemon-juice: Juice of fresh lemons is filtered through muslin, then is passed through filter paper under reduced pressure. The filtrate is evaporated in vacuo over sulphuric acid at a temperature of 13.5° to 15.5° C. The residue is a noncrystalline syrup, which is worked into as stiff a paste as possible by incorporation with a dry mixture of anhydrous lactose 97 parts and gum tragacanth 3 parts. The paste is divided into portions, each of which contains the juice of one-half lemon and is equivalent to 24 cc. of the juice - the dose for an adult. Each portion is rolled, faced with the dry mixture of lactose and gum, and pressed into a lozenge. Five days are required for the entire process of manufacture.

The loienges readily dissolve in water containing a small amount of sodium bicarbonate. These losenges have been found to retain their efficacy for at least three months at ordinary temperatures. At 37° C. the material darkened gradually, and the vitamin became slightly deteriorated.

17b J. Biol. Chem. 1921.411. Alcohol of 70% strength containing 0.3% hydrochloric acid and 96% alcohol likewise acidified were used by Jansen (Physiol Abs. 5, 361) to extract rice bran. The extracts were applied to washed white rice and dried. The product was fed to cocks and doves. The latter proved slightly more sensitive than cocks to lack of antineuritic vitamin. The methods of extraction gave the same result, the vitamin being quantitatively extracted.

17c Illustrated Official Journal, Mar. 9, 1921; Plauson and Viellc.

18 Harden and Zilva, Bioch. J. 12, 259.

19 Harden and Robinson, Ibid. 14, 171, 1920.

20 See also McClendon, Bowers and Sedgwick, Proc. Soc. Biol. Chem. J. Biol. Chem. 46, ii, 1931; Givens and Macy, Ibid. xi. 21 Buaett-Smith, Lancet, 1920, ii, 1102.

Fig 6. - Details of MoClendon's Drier.

Water-soluble C is extracted by McClendon from fruits or tomatoes. If oranges are used they are pressed and the juice is run into a vessel previously filled with carbon dioxide so as to exclude the oxygen of the air. Baker's yeast is added and the receptacle is tightly covered.