A rapid specific method for the isolation of pneumococcal polysaccharide.

Abstract

THE report by Gessler et al. 1 on the use of a completely substituted ethane (trichlorotrifluoro ethane, ‘Genetron 113’; obtained from the Division of Allied Dye and Chemical Corp., General Chemicals, Inc., New York) as a ‘deproteinizing’ agent in the purification of influenza virus, suggested to us that this solvent might have many uses. In particular, we were concerned with ‘deproteinizing’ bacterial cells with the consequent release of polysaccharides. In view of the observation that this solvent is not miscible with water and that pneumococcal poly-saccharide is soluble in water, the following experiment was performed.