THE CHEMISTRY OF THE LIPIDS OF TUBERCLE BACILLI

Abstract

In the analysis of the purified wax (1) isolated from the human tubercle bacillus it was found that the principal ether-soluble constituent was a hydroxy acid of very high molecular weight which was designated by the term "unsaponifiable wax" (2).This substance has been the subject of further studies, the results of which are reported in this paper.The so called waxes of the human tubercle bacillus are exceedingly.complex mixtures and they show great differences in composition.Some of the wax fractions that we have examined contain large quantities of carbohydrates, for instance the purified wax (1) and the unfiltrable lipid (3); again, other fractions, such as the soft wax (4), are complex glycerides.The carbohydrate components when present are easily split off by treatment with alcoholic potassium hydroxide, the wax being thus separated into two fractions, (a) water-soluble carbohydrate and (b) ether-soluble compounds.The ether-soluble components consist of a mixture of fatty acids and incompletely saponified wax-like material.The waxy substance can be separated from-the fatty acids by precipitation from ether solution with alcohol.The alcoholinsoluble material is extremely stable but on prolonged saponi-