Evening star., 1942-04-21
Synthetic MenthoI
Discovery Breaks
Jap Monopoly
Chemical Society Told
u. S. Con Produce 1t
Cheaper Than Orient
BY q staff Correspondent Of The star

BY Staff Correspondent OF The star.
MEMPHIS, Tenn, April al
The first synthetic menthol was
reported to the American Chemical
Society here today.
This essential drug hitherto has
been a japanese world monopoly.
Since Pearl Harbor the price has
jumped from about So to $14 a
pound, supplies have been available
for only a few months with the
most gid'economy, and 1t has prac-
tically disappeared from cigarettes,
toothpastes, candies and shaving
creams.
Now. it is claimed, there will be |
q superabundant native supply for
ever at cheaper price than the |
japanese can produce it, and Japan |
has lost one highly profitable busi-
ness for all time.
Yielded by Coal Tar.
The new menthol, chemically |
identical with the Jap product, is
produced from coal tar and refinery
gases. For more than go years
American and European chemists
have sought in vain for a native
supply or for a way to synthesize |
1t. Ten months ago. when war with |
Japan appeared highly probable, |
the Brown & WilliamSn Tobacco /
Co. and the Wick Chemical Co. es- /
tablished research foundation at |
Purdue University. Largely through |
two strokes Of luck. one of them /
piece Of apparatus just invented by
a Purdue graduate student, they |
solved the problem.
In the past, menthol has been ex-
tracted almost exclusively from
Japanese peppermint. America alone |
imported more than 500 900 pounds |
a year. American peppermint oil. /
coming from plant of a different
species than that cultivated by the |
Japanese. has finer flavor but !
contains less menthol and is not an /
economical source OF the material. /
Even the Japanese plant trans |
planted to the United States pro- |
duced considerably less menthol |
than in it native habitat.
The only means of synthesis In /
the past, a rather expensive one. /
was to use as a starting material /
oil of citronella obtained from Java. /
This also has been cut off by the
war.
Ribefiavin Extracted.
Extraction Of potent and highly
purified concentrate of ribof1avin. /
one of the vitamins essential to
growth and probably to life, was
announced by an Agriculture De-
partment chemist, DR. Abraham
Leviton of Washington.
Ribofavin. whose chief source is
milk. Is recognized to be of such
Importance in diet that it was pro-
posed TO put IL in the new enriched
bread. But it is expensive and
scarce.
The new method will make it pos
Sible. DR.. Leviton said, to produce
about 5000 pounds of the vitamin,
enough to satisfy the requirements
of about per cent OF the American
population. from approximately g.
600 900 tons of whey, about the
cAAAi0uA NANAAANAtIAl AAEAEA ~ QC-
pendS on the power of milk sugar
in the whey to soak up the vitamin
as II crystallizes.
May Supplement Sugar.
"An interesting aspect of the re-
! search" said DR.. Leviton. lis the
/ possibility of using the ribofavin-
containing sugar TO supplement cane
sugar during this period of acute
sugar shortage Other investiga-
tions are in progress on the utiliza-
/ ton of milk sugar to soak up other
vitamins, A sweet, quite palatable
product is obtained. golden yellow
/ in color, which contains approx
mately so per cent Of the ribofiavin
( in whey"
Deficiencies in riboflavin in man
has been found to produce especially
an abnormal skin condition char
scterized by swelling Of the lips and
formation Of scaly sores about the
nose and ears