MEETINGS FORESHADOWED
Plant Conversion Round Table T H E third annual meeting of t h e Insti tute of Food Technologists, t o be held in Minneapolis, Minn., from J u n e 15 to 17, will feature a round-table discussion of ways a n d means of converting idle or iidaptnhle plant production capacity to the making of products essential to war. A similar session will be held o n educa tional requirements of food technologists.
American Chemical Society 104TH MEETING.
Hudson Announces First Synthesis of Lactose
Buffalo, Ν . Υ., Septem
ber 7 to 11, 1942. 105TH
MEETING.
Indianapolis,
Ind.,
April 12 to 16, 1943. 106TH
MEETING.
Minneapolis,
Minn.,
fall of 1943. LEHIGH VALLEY SECTION.
Lafayette Col
lege, Easton, Penna., June 19, 1942. Speaker, Nelson W. Taylor, "Some Re cent Researches on Glass." NATIONAL
CHEMICAL E X P O S I T I O N .
Ste
vens Hotel, Chicago, 111., November 17 to 22, 1942. NINETEENTH
NATIONAL
COLLOID
SYM
POSIUM, Division of Colloid Chemistry. University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo., J u n e 18 to 20, 1942.
O t h e r Scientific Societies AMERICAN
ASSOCIATION
OF
C
S. HUDSON, United States Public • Health Service, m a d e the first public announcement of the synthesis of lactose at t h e 109th meeting of t h e Central Penn sylvania Section of t h e A M E R I C A N C H E M I
CAL SOCIETY held in t h e N e w Physics Building, State College, May 27. The structure of this characteristic sugar of the mammalian world has been k n o w n for some time, thanks to t h e methylation studies of Sir James Irvine and of W . N . r l a w o r t h . Lactose had never been syn thesized, however, until t h e recent accom plishment in D r . Hudson's laboratory a t Bethesda. M d . , in which work h e was assisted by W . T . Haskins and R a y m o n d Μ . Ηann. T h e difficult step in t h e process was t h e obtaining of a suitable intermediate h a v ing as i t s only free and reactive group t h e
4-hydroxyl. Strange to say, this appeared in t h e form of mannosan, t h e anhydride of mannose having 1,5- and 1,6-rings. This was first obtained by the destructive distillation of vegetable ivory obtained as waste from b u t t o n manufacture. Later, for the sake of completeness in t h e synthe sis, it was obtained by t h e Tanret reac tion of barium hydroxide on beta-phenylmannoside. M a n n o s a n h a s t h e 2,3,4-hydroxyls free. T r e a t m e n t with acetone blocks t h e a.s-2,3-hydroxyls, leaving the 4-hydroxyl as t h e only free reactive group. T r e a t m e n t with bromotetraacetylgalactose gives the desired beta-linked galac tose residue in t h e 4-position. T r e a t m e n t with 80 per c e n t acetic acid removed t h e acetone, leaving t h e 2,3-hydroxyls free. These a r e then acetylated by acetic a n h y dride a n d pyridine. T r e a t m e n t with a mixture of acetic anhydride, glacial acetic acid, a n d sulfuric acid opens t h e 1,6-ring in t h e . a n n o s e p a r t of t h e molecule. T r e a t m e n t with hydrogen bromide gives t h e 1-bromo compound. Zinc dust is then used to remove this atom and t h e acetate group from t h e adjacent carbon, thus leaving t h e hexaacetate of lactal having a double bond in the 1,2-position of the origi nal mannose moiety. T r e a t m e n t with perbenzoic acid adds t w o hydroxyls, for t u n a t e l y in t h e configuration of glucose. Removal of t h e six acetyl groups by treat m e n t with sodium methjdate gives crys talline synthetic lactose. REPORTED BY FRANK C . W H I T M O R E
PHYSICS
TEACHERS. S t a t e College, Penna., June 25 to 2 7 . AMERICAN
INSTITUTE
ENGINEERS. 26.
OF
ELECTRICAL.
Chicago, 111., June 22 t o
AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY.
M i d - H u d s o n Section H o l d s Charter M e e t i n g At
S t a t e Col
lege, Penna., June 25 to 27; Berkeley, Calif., July 11.
C H E M I C A L S O C I E T Y in P o u g h k e e p s i e ,
Atlantic City, N . J., J u n e 22 t o
EASTERN PHOTOELASTICITY C O N F E R E N C E .
University Club, Boston, Mass., J u n e 20. Semiannual meeting. INSTITUTE
OF
FOOD
N.
Y, M a y 19. F r a n k Η. B r u n e r was elected C h a i r m a n ; Carroll W. Griffin, ChairmanElect; Fred C. Toettcher, SecretaryT r e a s u r e r ; a n d Dorman McBurney, Coun cilor. Following a banquet, Per K. Frolich, President-Elect of t h e SOCIETY, addressed t h e section on " T h e R u b b e r Problem".
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR T E S T I N G M A T E
RIALS. 26.
T H E charter meeting of t h e M i d Hudson Section of t h e AMERICAN
TECHNOLOGISTS.
Hotel Nicollet, Minneapolis, Minn., J u n e 15 to 17. Annual meeting. NEW E N G L A N D ASSOCIATION OF C H E M ISTRY T E A C H E R S . University of New
Hampshire, Durham, N . H., August 1 1 to 14. OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA.
Massa
chusetts Institute of Technology, C a m bridge, Mass., July 20 t o 22. SOCIETY* FOR T H E PROMOTION OF E N G I N E E R I N G EDUCATION. Columbia U n i
versity, New York, N . Y., June 27 a n d 28. Annual meeting. 1 The list of the SOCIETY'S National Officers and Directors, Editors, members of Council, Divisional and Local Section Officers, Com mittees, and Chapters of Student Affiliates
appears
in
CHEMICAL
AND ENGINEERING
N E W S three times a year—usually February 10, May 10, and October 10. The latest list is printed on page 601 of the May 10 issue. 750
Carroll W . Griffin, Chairman-Elect, and Per K. Frolich, Quest speaker, at the charter meeting of the M i d - H u d s o n Section C H E M I C A L
N e w officers o f M i d - H u d s o n Section. Left to right, Secretary-Treasurer Toettcher, Chairman Bruner, Councilor McBurney A N D
E N G I N E E R I N G
N E W S
