Note on the Isolation of Methylguanidine by the Silver Method

Abstract

In the course of some experiments which were carried out in relation to the "diazo reaction" of the urine of typhoid patients, it was found desirable to submit the urine to Kutscher's process for the isolation of bases. The process, as is well known, consists in fractional precipitation by means of silver, first in acid and subsequently in alkaline solution. Treatment of the urine by this means resulted in the isolation of an unexpectedly large amount of methylguanidine. Thus, while previous workers, Kutscher and Lohmann [1906], Engeland [1908] and Achelis [1906], had obtained varying amounts of methylguanidine which corresponded to an average yield of 0*01 g. of base per litre, the average amount obtained in the experiments under con- sideration was approximately 0-06 g. per litre, and in one case 0*17 g. per litre was isolated.