A Study of the Behavior of Dextrose Sodium Chloride in Hydrochloric Acid Solutions¹

Abstract

Dextrose sodium chloride, (CeHijOeVNaCl-HjO first elicited interest during the second quarter of the nineteenth century when investigators isolated it from the urine of diabetics and found it identical with a compound prepared from honey and salt. The most recent scientific investigation was carried out by Matsuura2 who studied the system dextrose-sodium chloride-water at 24°. The double salt also has figured in the patent literature3•4•6-6 in recent years. This study describes the behavior of the double salt in hydrochloric acid solutions. ExperimentalPreliminary experiments with solutions of a crude factory preparation of the double salt in hydrochloric acid indicated that the compound was relatively unstable, the dextrose undergoing considerable decomposition. To ascertain the extent to which dextrose would decompose, several experiments were performed at 25-30°with anhydrous dextrose and hydrochloric acid. These experiments showed that in hydrochloric acid solutions up to 25% hydrogen chloride, dextrose is stable if the exposure does not exceed thirty minutes. Some decomposition is detectable in hydrochloric acid solutions of less than 25% hydrogen chloride at twenty-four hours. At twenty-four hours, however, decomposition occurs in hydrochloric acid of 25% hydrogen chloride to the extent of about 15%. In 36% H20(1) This paper was presented before the Division of Sugar Chemistry and Technology of the American Chemical Society, Detroit,