Properties of Branched Aliphatic Acids and their Behaviour in the Dog

Abstract

IN Fig. 1 are seen on the right the melting points and the tolerated amounts of alkylated succinic acids ; on the left the behaviour of β-alkyl-adipic acids plotted in the same manner. Both pairs of curves demonstrate a curious concordance between the purely physical attributes of melting point and the biological behaviour in the dog. We have also studied the properties of acids with longer side-chains, but have not plotted these values in the figures. The curves differ more as the number of carbon atoms in the side-chains increases, the melting points ascending more slowly than the tolerated amounts. The concordance of the curves, we conclude, is connected with the steric hindrance of the short side-chain, which renders the growth of crystals more difficult, as well as the apposition to oxidative enzymes.