Abstract
IT is generally stated that phloroglucin is formed by floating leaves in sugar solutions when exposed to sunlight. This phytochemical conversion of an aliphatic chain into an aromatic ring-compound is basedon observations published by Waage in 1890 (Berichte der deutschen botanischen Gesellschaft, vol. viii., p. 250), which have found their way into nearly every text-book on the subject (compare, for example, M. Wheldale Onslow, “Practical Plant Biochemistry,” p. 7, which hasjust been published). The fascination of this simple experiment and its general importance to plant chemistry have made me repeat it every summer for the last fifteen years, but not in a single case, out of nearly eightyexperiments, did I succeed in detecting even the slightest trace of phloroglucin. For the detection of phloroglucin I used the pine-wood test, as recommended by Waage, and also the bromine-water test after extraction with ether.
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NIERENSTEIN, M. Waage's Phytochemical Synthesis of Phloroglucin from Glucose. Nature 105, 391 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/105391c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/105391c0
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