Formation Of Ammonium Salts Research Articles

The reaction of propane sultone with macromolecules. III. Poly(ethylene imine)

AbstractThe reaction of propane sultone with poly(ethylene imine) (PEI) has been studied in benzene and in methanol. The reaction products are polyampholytes insoluble in water or any other solvent, but soluble in strong alkali or in concentrated acids. Depending on the molar ratio PEI: propane sultone, products having a degree of substitution between 0.23 and 0.64 were obtained. After treatment with excess sodium hydroxide and removal of the excess by dialysis, a polymer containing both sodium sulfopropyl groups and sulfopropyl groups in form of inner ammonium salts was obtained.

Phosphonomethylation of Cotton

A new phosphorus-containing ether of cellulose was prepared by the reaction of cotton with chloromethylphosphonic acid in the presence of sodium hydroxide. Phosphorus contents from 0.2% to 4.0% were obtained. By proper control of the phosphono methylation reaction, derivatives were made which ranged from water soluble to fibrous materials in which the physical properties of the untreated cotton were substantially unaltered. Phosphonomethyl cotton was flame resistant in the ammonium salt form and had a cation exchange capacity equivalent to some of the cation exchange resins.

Studies on the Absorption of Nitrate and Ammonium Nitrogen by Tobacco Plant (Part 2) : Effects of Form of Ammonium Salt

Studies on the Absorption of Nitrate and Ammonium Nitrogen by Tobacco Plant (Part 2) : Effects of Form of Ammonium Salt

Sporeling Establishment in Pteridium Aquilinum: Effects of Mineral Nutrients

From the small number of records of sporelings of the common bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn.) which are known to have established themselves (Conway, 1953) it seems likely that, under natural conditions, a complex of factors acts on the prothallus and the young sporophyte, and that many of these factors may be climatic (Conway, 1957). But in years of high spore-production, numerous spores must fall on land which, either naturally or by agricultural treatment, has a higher complement of mineral nutrients than is normal. The present paper describes experiments carried out to see if developing spores and colonizing young plants of bracken are influenced by the presence of mineral nutrients in excess of their basic requirements. The experiments were designed to test (a) the extent to which the youngbracken plant is a calcifuge; (b) whether the sporeling becomes established more readily when nitrogen is available in the form of nitrates or ammonium salts; and (c) the degree of development of young plants on land rich in potash or phosphates. During the course of the present investigation, Schwabe (1951) published a review of the mineral nutrition of bracken in which he stressed the importance of nitrogen and phosphorus in the development of the prothallus, and he noted that potassium and sulphur deficiencies had a marked effect on the development of the plant. He found that in the young sporophyte, frond production was reduced by phosphorus and potassium deficiencies, and that length of life was shortened by potassium deficiency. In his opinion, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus are important mineral nutrients in the establishment of young bracken plants. The present observations are based on the effect produced upon the young plant, not by deficiencies but by amounts of mineral nutrients normal in agricultural practice. The design of the experiments was ecological rather than physiological and no attempt has been made to define the amounts of the minerals used by the plant, our objective being to observe the reactions of the plant when certain minerals were available in plentiful supply. EXPERIMENT

A STUDY WITH ISOTOPIC NITROGEN OF PROTEIN METABOLISM IN DETACHED RUNNER‐BEAN LEAVES

The concept of Gregory & Sen (I937) that a protein cycle is continually at work in plant cells has received strong support from experiments with isotopic nitrogen. The pioneer work of Schoenheimer and his colleagues with mature animals in nitrogen equilibrium showed that dietary nitrogen containing a known excess of the isotope 15N, when fed in the form of ammonium salts or amino-acids, became rapidly incorporated in the oc-amino group of many different amino-acid residues of the tissue proteins (cf. Schoenheimer & Rittenberg, 1940). The protein of buckwheat leaves underwent a similar modification when the young plants were grown for 47 hr. on a culture solution in which the ordinary ammonium chloride was replaced by a sample containing I12 atom %0 excess '5N. Little growth occurred during this short period, and Vickery, Pucher, Schoenheimer & Rittenberg (I939, I940) concluded that not less than 6% of the protein nitrogen of the leaves must have undergone replacement by interaction with nitrogen from simpler substances in the leaf. These same workers made a more extensive investigation with a young tobacco plant. After 72 hr. on a similar culture solution the ammonia absorbed had been rapidly assimilated into the nitrogen of amides and amino-acids and into the proteins. Much of the observed chemical change could be correlated with growth, but the quantity of isotope found in the tissue proteins was appreciably in excess of that to be expected from growth alone. The excess was interpreted as the result of a continuous chemical interaction between the tissue constituents and the nutrient, during the course of which the isotopic nitrogen became introduced into the proteins. This was held to furnish an example of the normal process of nitrogen assimilation. As these workers pointed out, the introduction of isotopic nitrogen into the proteins follows as a logical consequence if a protein cycle is operative. Parallel experiments by Hevesy, Linderstrom-Lang, Keston & Olsen (I940), with sunflower plants cultured for I2 days on ammonium sulphate containing 2-5 atoms %0 excess '5N, showed that the old leaves, in which no apparent growth took place, had replaced 120% of the protein nitrogen. In the present work the problem has been investigated from a different point of view. As mentioned in the preceding paper (Chibnall, I953), the concept of a protein cycle continually at work in leaves would suggest that the rapid loss of protein observed when they are detached from the plant is due to some impairment in the mechanism of protein synthesis, so that protein breakdown predominated. Though masked, protein synthesis would thus still be going on, and it should be possible to demonstrate this by feeding the detached leaves via the petiole with a nutrient solution containing isotopic nitrogen in some convenient form.

Observations on the metabolism of bacteria-free larvae of Trichinella spiralis

1. 1. The larvae of Trichinella spiralis consume aerobically and anaerobically about the same amount of glycogen, while lipid consumption occurs only under aerobic conditions. 2. 2. The major endproducts of the carbohydrate fermentation are volatile fatty acids, especially valeric acid, while only traces of lactic acid are produced. Keto substances in small amounts are produced only in the presence of oxygen. Part of the acids is excreted as free acids, while another part may be excreted in the form of ammonium salts. 3. 3. Carbohydrate fermentation is the process which allows the larvae to survive anaerobic processes, but it is insufficient to allow motility. It is probable that a major part of the oxygen consumed is used for the oxidation of lipids and this process may be of importance for the motility of the larvae.

Formation of Extra-cellular Nitrogen Compounds by Fungi

IN the course of work in this Laboratory on the nitrogen metabolism of mould fungi, it has frequently been observed that much less than the total amount of nitrogen supplied initially in the medium in the form of nitrate or ammonium salt is recovered in the fungus mycelium, although a high level of readily assimilated carbohydrate is present in the culture medium. Similar results have been obtained by other workers1; but it is not clear whether they are to be explained by incomplete assimilation of the nitrogen source or by the formation by the fungus of complex nitrogen compounds which either remain in, or are excreted into, the medium. A quantitative study of the uptake of inorganic nitrogen by fungi was therefore undertaken, using in the first place a strain of Scopulariopsis brevicaulis.

Test of the control of weeds on the paddy field by the use of 2.4-D (1)

Various foreign sources of information have recently shown us that the application of 2.4-D (2.4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid) is effective for the weed control. Therefore, the writer tested a possibility of adopting this method in paddy condition. From several varied experiments, a spray of 0.05-0.1 percent 2.4-D in the form of either sodium or ammonium salt in water at the rate of 75-150 liters per 10 ares on weeds between the growing rice plants on well-drained paddy field in the mid-or late July has given desirable results, this method was so effective that, with the exception of Echinochlon Crusgalli Beauv. all kind of weeds such as Aneilema Keisak Hassk., Monorkoria vaginalis presl., Lindernia Pyxidaria all., Rotala indica Koehne. ver. uliginasa Miq. cyperus difformis L. Fimbristylis miliacea Vahl., Elatine orientalis Makino, Echipta alba Hassk., Hleocharis acicularis R. Br., etc., were killed within 1-2 weeks, nevertheless no injury to the rice plants was recognized. It may be recommended for the control of weeds on th paddy field to apply 50-75gr of 2.4-D per 10 ares, as it gave as much rice yield as that of the ordinary weeded plot. 37.5gr per 10 ares (0.05 percent solution at the rate of 751. per 10 ares) seemed to be too small doses and 150 gr. per 10 ares too much dose, each of which decreased the rice yields 15 percent and 10 percent respectively as compared with the ordinary weeded plot, although the rice yields of both plots was superior to that of the unweeded plot which about 35 percent less yield than the control.

GLUTAMINE METABOLISM OF THE BEET

Although glutamine has long been known as a plant constituent (10), the relationship of this amide to the nitrogen metabolism of the plant has seldom been subjected to direct test. The close analogy in chemical structure with asparagine and the similarity of the conditions under which the respective amides are found have led to the view, early expressed by Schulze (6), that glutamine replaces asparagine as the chief amide in many species and fulfills the same functions. This view is shared by Prianischnikow (4) . Schulze regarded the asparagine, which accumulated in the etiolated seedlings of many species, as a secondary product of protein digestion (7, 8, 9), ammonia being the intermediate product. This idea was supported by the experiments of Suzuki (11), who had found that young plants cultured upon solutions that supply nitrogen in the form of ammonium salts greatly increase their store of asparagine. Prianischnikow (5) has shown that asparagine is synthesized in seedlings in response to the advent of ammonia derived from the decomposition of the protein of the cotyledons, the synthesis occurring both in light and in dark in the presence of carbohydrates, but only in light in their absence. He regards the reaction as a provision against the toxic effect of ammonia, the neutral amide being stored in readiness for subsequent syntheses in which nitrogen in readily available form is required. Mothes (3) has found that asparagine fulfills a similar function in mature plants, and the experiments of Vickery, Pucher, Wakeman, and Leavenworth (15) have also shown that amide nitrogen rapidly accumulates in the leaf of the tobacco plant when cultured in water in the dark. In this case the definite correlation that was observed between the dis-