Chemistry of urine : a practical guide to the analytical examination of diabetic, albuminous and gouty urine.

  • Alfred Henry Allen
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chemistry of urine : a practical guide to the analytical examination of diabetic, albuminous and gouty urine. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Gerstein Science Information Centre at the University of Toronto, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Gerstein Science Information Centre, University of Toronto.

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    is not produced by pure acetone, but is due to alde- hyde, which they state is almost always formed simul- taneously with acetone. It seems probable that the reaction is common to both bodies, but is capable of detecting a much smaller amount of aldehyde than of acetone, since Mohler found that 0*01 gramme per litre of aldehyde but not less than 0*5 gramme of acetone could be detected in spirits by this test. For the detection of acetone in urine. Legal {Jour, Fharm., [5], xviii. 206) adds some drops of a concentrated solution of sodium nitroprusside, and makes the liquid slightly alkaline with caustic potash. When the red coloration first produced has disappeared, a little acetic acid is added, which in presence of acetone will produce a deep violet coloration. A somewhat modified form of the above test has been described byLe Nobel (Chem. Centralb., 1884, page 626). He adds to the urine a solution of sodium nitro- prusside, previously made alkaline by caustic soda and so dilute as to have only a slight red tint. If acetone be present, even to the small extent of 0'0002 gramme, a ruby-red colour will be produced, changing in a few moments to yellow, and on acidulating the liquid and boiling, a greenish-blue or violet colour is developed.^ The most delicate test for acetone is that based on its ready conversion into iodoform when treated with caustic alkali and a solution of iodine. The following equation represents the final reaction, but the highly unstable potassium hypoiodite is probably formed as a first product. C3H6O + 4KOH+3I2 = 3KI-{-KC2H302-i-CHl3 -t- 3H2O. Acetone. Acetate. Iodoform, To apply the iodoform test, 10 c.c. of the suspected 1 The nitroprusside test has been applied very successfully by A. Ash by to the detection of acetone in methylated spirit and liquids containing it. The orange-yellow colour given by aldehyde can scarcely be mistaken for the far more intense colour produced by acetone.
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