Studies on heparin

Abstract

demonstrated that dog liver contained a substance, heparin, that retards the coagulation of blood in vitro, much work has been done to devise methods for isolating very active preparations of this material. Chemical analyses of such products, however, have differed greatly, owing to the fact that the substance has not yet been isolated in pure form. Howell [1928] obtained a product which was N-and P-free and concluded that heparin was a derivative of glycuronic acid. Schmitz & Fischer [1933] believed heparin to be a trisaccharide C18H320.7 containing one carboxylic group. The product isolated by Scott & Charles [1933] gave a positive o-naphthol reaction but the test for glycuronic acids with naphthoresorcinol was negative. Their preparation con- tained approximately 2 % N and was readily inactivated by nitrous acid. These