Manufacture of a Compound suitable for Alimentary and Medicinal Purposes.
Year: 1893

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by C. F. BOEHRINGER & SOHNE, of Waldhoff, near
Maunheim, Germany, Chemical Manufacturers.]
Manufacture of a Compound suitable for Alimentary and Medicinal
Purposes.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL of No. 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane
in the County of London, Consulting Engineer and Chartered Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
When albuminous bodies, white of egg, blood albumen, fibrine, muscular albumen
etc. are heated with alkalies so called alkali albuminates are produced from which
acid albumen can be precipitated by means of acids.
This albumen acid forms salts with calcium and iron, etc. in the same way as with
alkalies.
Iron-derivatives of acid albumen of an entirely different nature from the iron
salts of acid albumen heretofore known are however produced by means of a
process which forms the subject of the present invention and which is hereinafter
described.
In the following description those proportions are given which have been found
most suitable for the production of the said compounds; in the place of tartaric
acid, of alkaline tartrates and tartrate of iron, other acids or alkali salts and other
iron salts can be employed.
For the above purpose 100 parts of egg albumen or other albumen are dissolved
in 2000 parts of cold distilled water by shaking. To this solution are added in
succession:
1.) 25 parts of tartrate of iron (dissolved in 250 parts of distilled water and
neutralised by a 10 per cent. soda 1re).
2.) 100 parts of a 10 per cent. neutral tartrate of sodium solution.
3.) 38 parts of a 10 per cent. soda lye.
The yellow brown solution obtained is heated to 90° C. or is left standing for a
very long time at a lower temperature until a perfectly clear liquid brown red
solution is obtained that is to say until the reddish black colour obtained in from
one to two hours on heating to 90° C. has changed into a somewhat lighter
colour, which generally takes place in from 2 to 4 hours.
In order to remove the great excess of alkali, there is added to the solution, after
cooling a 25 per cent. tartaric acid solution until an acid reaction is obtained, the
excess of tartaric acid is removed by the addition of a 25 per cent. ammonia solution
which is added until a distinct alkaline reaction is obtained. The alkaline solution
is then maintained for 48 hours at 90° C., or instead of heating to 90° C., it is
allowed to stand for a very long time at a lower temperature whereupon it is
allowed to cool and there is then added a 25 per cent. tartaric acid solution until a
distinct acid reaction is obtained, whereby the formed iron albumen derivative will be
precipitated separated from foreign salts which might be hurtful to animal and
human organisms.
The precipitate is placed on a filter and washed until the washing water shows
no presence of iron.
For the further purification of the precipitate obtained, the moist mass is
dissolved in 1400 parts of distilled water, to which have been added 20 parts of a
25 per cent. ammonia solution and 20 parts of a 10 per cent. neutral, or rather,
slightly alkaline, ammonia-tartrate solution, and the mass is heated for 48 hours

page_text: to 90° C., or it is allowed to stand for a very long time at a lower temperature; it
is then allowed to cool perfectly and, in order to separate the iron albumen
derivatives from any salts contained in the solution that may be hurtful to
organisms, a 25 per cent. tartaric acid solution is added until a distinct acid reaction
is obtained.
The precipitate obtained is separated by filtration and washed with distilled
water until the acid reaction disappears. The moist mass is dried under heating to
a slightly raised temperature. The artificial iron albumen derivative thus obtained
is of a dark brown colour insoluble in water or in slightly acidulated water but is
soluble in large quantities of tartaric acid. If freshly precipitated it is soluble in
cold slightly alkaline water and if completely dried it is very readily dissolved in
slightly heated weak alkaline water. It contains from 7 to 10 per cent. of iron but
not in the form of a salt.
The iron albumen derivative formed at the commencement of the reaction when
heated continuously for a long time to 90° C. in the presence of an alkali, or
if left to itself for a very long time at a lower temperature, is modified in such
a manner that the iron enters into the changed molecule of albumen and is
bound in such a manner therein that its presence cannot be detected by means
of the usual iron reagents. The iron of the new compound is only brought into
a recognisable form by a thorough decomposition of the compound. For this
reason the iron introduced into the organic system by means of this. iron
preparation cannot be withdrawn from reabsorption by the sulphuretted hydrogen
present in the contents of the intestines whereas a reabsorption of iron is
impossible with the employment of other iron preparations in which the iron is
at once precipitated by sulphuretted hydrogen as sulphide of iron. On the
other hand the iron of the new compound is not so firmly bound as in the ferro-
and ferri-cyanides which are valueless as articles of food and for therapeutic iron
compounds.
In order to more closely characterise the preparation the following reaction is
given which sharply distinguishes it :-
20 cubic centimetres of the ammonical solution, containing 0.06 grammes of the
iron albumen derivative have added to them a drop of 50 per cent. aqueous sulphide
of ammonia solution (Fresenius qualitative analysis 14th edition, page 68). This
solution is not altered during five minutes and does not become opaquely black
within twenty five minutes.
The importance of the iron albumen derivative is due to the fact that it is (as
proved by careful experiments) an absorbable iron compound existing in the
organic system which can be employed both by itself alone and either in solid or
dissolved sterilised condition as an article of food as also as an addition to articles
of food for increasing the percentage of iron therein so that it is possible to add
sufficient quantities of iron to the system. Thus for example, as an addition to
milk in the nourishment of children and persons poor in blood, whereby the milk
becomes of increased importance as an article of nourishment.
The preparation is advantageously used as a 10 per cent. solution, but. it can also
be used in solid form. The process for the preparation of a 10 per cent. solution is
as follows:-
10 parts of pulverised iron albumen derivative or corresponding quantities of
freshly precipitated preparation (before drying) are mixed with 90 parts of distilled
water and there is added thereto under stirring 0.5 part of ammonia of the specific
gravity 0.910. This mixture is heated on a water bath to 75° C. until a uniform
thin liquid is obtained which smells only slightly of ammonia and shows only slight
alkaline reaction. Then as much distilled water is added as will form a total
volume of 100 parts. After well shaking, the solution is allowed to stand at
ordinary temperature for 24 hours, the clear liquid is drawn off from the slight
precipitate and is filled into well. cooled medicine bottles which are corked and
wired.
In order to sterilise the solution of the preparation it is heated in corked bottles

page_text: for 48 hours at a temperature of at least 75° C. A solution thus prepared shows
the following distinguishing properties.
The solution is of a dark brown colour, has a neutral reaction, very slight smell
and taste.
By means of acids and by the addition of larger quantities of alcohol, the iron
albumen derivative is precipitated from the same so that the supernatant liquid
appears as clear as water. The precipitated substance will be again dissolved by
the addition of ammonia.
In respect of sulphide of ammonium the above solution shows the same distinct
reaction as does the dried preparation indicated in the above description.
The said new compound can also be combined with other bodies to form
alimentary and pharmaceutical preparations.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I
claim is :-
nature of this inven-
declare that what I
1. A new compound suitable for alimentary and medicinal purposes consisting of
an iron albumen derivative produced substantially as herein described.
2. A process for the production of the alimentary or medicinal compound
referred to in the first claim, consisting in heating albuminous bodies together with
alkalies in the presence, firstly, of alkali tartratis or other alkali salts which hold-
iron in solution in the presence of alkali, or even without such, when albuminous
bodies are used which hold iron in solution in the presence of alkalies, and secondly
in the presence of tartrate of iron or other salts of iron, such heating being
effected for a long time and not less than for twelve hours, substantially as
described.
3. The production of the alimentary or medicinal compound referred to in the
first and second claims in form of solution by mixing the iron albumen derivative
with distilled water to which is added a small quantity of ammonia and after heating
and shaking the solution, decanting the same after allowing it to stand for a time,
substantially as described.
4. The combination of the iron albumen derivative referred to in the first claim
with other substances to form alimentary or pharmaceutical preparations substan-
tially as set forth.
Dated this 13th day of January 1803
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.