Toxicity of alkyldihydrofurans to metabolically active organs in the mouse.

Alkylfurans inflict toxicity in several mammalian species to lung, liver and kidney. Organ specificity of the alkylfurans is a sensitive function of the nature of the alkyl group. To determine if this toxicity requires an aromatic ring in the compound, we synthesized 4-methyl-2,3-dihydrofuran, 4-ethyl-2,3-dihydrofuran and 4-pentyl-2,3-dihydrofuran and determined their toxicity to lung, liver and kidney in mice.

Structure of ascorbic acid and its biological function. Determination of the conformation of ascorbic acid and isoascorbic acid by infrared and ultraviolet investigations.

The four O-H bands of ascorbic acid could be assigned by means of infrared investigations. It could be shown by electron spin resonance and nuclear magnetic resonance measurements that the radical sodium ascorbate is formed by a cyclic side-chain structure resulting in a loss of C(6)-OH and C(3)-OH. The C(2) = C(3) double bond is still maintained as could be shown by infrared and ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy.