Evening star., 1939-09-03
Food Vital 10 Life
Produced Chemically
At 5000 a Pound
Threonine, an Amino
Acid, Could Become
Port of Meal Table
BY the Associated Press.

roTt or Meal 0Dle
By the Associated Press.
URBANA, ILL.,, Sept. 2.-The Uni
versity of Illinois chemistry depart
ment is making this summer, at
cost of 5000 pound, about six
pounds of food essential to life.
The substance is threonine. 1t Is
an amino acid and one of the 20
known amino acids which form pro-
teins.
Threonine is a white crystalline
powder which can be isolated from
casein, the solid part of milk. This
isolation, however, is expensive and
the Illinois chemists are synthesizing
1t out of crotonic acid, an organic
chemical. Even at 5000 pound the
synthetic material Is cheaper.
The threonine is one of 10 amino
acids which Illinois is making syn
thetically in one of the worlds most
unusual laboratories. During sum-
mer vacation this laboratory makes
research chemicals, all of them rare
compounds, which are used all over
the world to further progress of
science. The amino acids are the
most spectacular of them.
Substitute for Proteins.
Only in the last 80 years has SCI
ence discovered that proteins, one
of the three basic human foods, are
made of amino acids and that the
acids themselves can be substituted
for proteins in diet.
Threonine is one of the most re-
cent of these discoveries. 1t was
found by Prof William C. Rose of
Illinois in an experiment where he
fed rats all of the then known
Amino acids. The animals failed to
grow. Search for the cause un-
covered the new acid and proved it
is essential for life.
If scientist today wished to try
to make pill which would contain
a complete meal he would have to
come to the University of Illinois
chemists in order to get his threo-
nine. At the present price enough
OF this acid for human adult for
one day, which is two or three grams.
would cost about IS. The other q
acids for the pill might not be quite
as expensive, but would probably
run the cost of the proteins alone
for such a meal close to 500.
No scientists are trying to make
pills for meals. But there is prac-
tical possibility of injecting these
acids by hypodermic needle directly
into the blood. The proteins which
man eats are broken down by his
digestive system and delivered to his
blood stream in the same form as
the acids available in the Illinois
research laboratories.
Distributed by Blood Stream.
After amino acids reach the blood
they are distributed to the organs
and tissues. These "depots' of the
body select the acids they need and
build them into the proteins that
form the bulk of the human body.
Physicians already see the possi-
bility of injecting protein meals to
patients temporarily unable to digest
food. They have requested scien-
fists to do the necessary preliminary
animal feeding experiments.
The laboratory has small room
which contains scores of jars, each
filled with one of the % protein
forming acids. The contents are
worth about $4,000. All the acids
are white AL are in the form
of very fine crystals Some are like
tiny needles, some like powdered
chalk and others resemble chopped
up threads of cotton. They are
mostly odorless. Their taste ranges
from sweet to bitter or salty. A
few have favors familiar in dinner
table foods.
Prof. Rose, one of the world fore
most experimentors with amino
acids for diet, gets most of his ma
terial from the University of Illinois
laboratories. He is one of the SCI
entists who works out methods for
extracting them.
In addition to the acids. many
other rare chemicals are synthesized
by the university's organic chemical
manufacture laboratory. 1t pre-
pares 200 to 300 products. 1t is
directed by Prof. c. S. Marvel,
whose associates call him Speed"
because his movements are de-
hberate.
Reproduced Secret War Gas.
He started it during the World
War. If the Germans shot over a
new gas that the United States
wanted to analyze, Prof. Marvel
made few hundred grams of it.
He worked out the formula from
reports of the Intelligence Service
and from dud shells On the av-
erage it took him two weeks to
reproduce German product.
After the war the demand for
the rare chemicals increased until
the University of Illinois became a
world center for this work. Great
industrial chemical corporations
have turned over to Prof. Marvels
laboratory the manufacture of some
of their own rare chemicals.
The work is mostly done during
eight weeks of the summer. The
Workmen are two to three dozen
graduate student chemists, who re-
ceive 40 cents an hour plus uni
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