In 1922, in cooperation with Dr. Casimir Funk, we attempted the synthesis of the gentisic alanine by the Sasaki1 and Hirai2, 3 methods, namely condensation of dimethoxy gentisic aldehyde with glycine anhydride in presence of anhydrous sodium acetate and acetic anhydride, and subsequent splitting of the diketo piperazine compound by means of prolonged heating with strong hydriodic acid and red phosphorus.We failed to obtain the desired compound at that time and, due to pressure of other work, temporarily dropped the problem. Early in 1927, we again resumed this work and succeeded in preparing a crystalline substance which gave all the reactions of the desired compound. A Kjeldahl nitrogen determination gave the correct analysis for nitrogen, but due to the small amount of material available, we were unable to do a complete combustion at that time and were therefore loathe to publish our results.As K. Hirai4 has lately reported the synthesis of this amino acid, and as our compound appears to be identical wi...