Who invented benedicts solution

Working with Lafayette Benedict Mendel The Yale laboratory had been made famous by Chittenden, the first well-trained physiological chemist in the United States.

His distinguished pupil, Lafayette B. Mendel, had taken over the supervision of graduate students and much of the teaching, but Chittenden still continued to give each year a course in nutrition and one in toxicology. Thus all the graduate students came intimately into contact with both of these superior men. Under Mendel's direction Benedict studied the paths of excretion of several inorganic elements during his post-graduate years but his originality was apparent even at this time.

He independently described a new procedure for separation of barium, strontium and calcium, and a new method for distinguishing between glucose and lactose — before completing his work for his degree. In the American Journal of Physiology Otto Knut Olof Folin published three papers which immediately brought him to distinction.

The first of these described a new system for the analysis of urine for urea, ammonia, creatine, creatinine, and uric acid. Methods hitherto available for quantitative estimation of these substances were either seriously unspecific, as in the case of urea, or required relatively large samples for analysis, as was the case for uric acid.

Otto Folin's new procedures were regarded by biochemists and physiologists as so great a step in advance that Harvard University created a professorship in biochemistry for the humble chemist working in the laboratory of the McLean Hospital for Mental Diseases at Waverley, Massachusetts. Analysing, analysing. His first appointment was at Syracuse University, where he remained but one year.

Graham Lusk , the distinguished physiologist, was responsible for Benedict's appointment. Benedict now entered with enthusiasm upon his career as an improver of analytical methods. Benedict held his position at Cornell until his death in at the age of Benedict had a close professional relationship with Otto Folin.

They were kindred spirits" McCollum. Every method which Folin described during the following years was immediately submitted to a critical study and was modified and improved in some important detail by Benedict. Methods for uric acid, creatine and creatinine, total sulphur, sugar, etc.

Benedict's services as editor Notwithstanding the regular teaching of physiological chemistry to medical students, and his constant occupation with post-graduate students and assistants and associates in the planning and supervision of his many researches, Benedict gave a great amount of time to editorial work.

Beginning in , he supervised the Biological Chemistry Section of Chemical Abstracts throughout the remainder of his life. In he accepted the editorship of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, a labour to which he gave much time and effort, which ended only with his death.

Benedict's Solution , or one of the many variants that evolved over the years, was used as the reagent of choice for measuring sugar content for more than 50 years. It was the most common test for diabetes and was the standard procedure for virtually all clinical laboratories. Benedict demonstrated that urinary ammonia was almost totally formed in the kidney, and with Folin should be credited as a major contributor to the measurement of metabolites in the blood so important in modern medicine.

Apart from his development of analytical techniques he discovered new substances such as ergothioneine in the red cells. In he became editor of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and early on decided to dispense with the final «e» which terminated many biological compounds until he was asked by one of his colleagues whether he was going to abolish the final «e» on his favourite liqueur - Benedictine.

This caused him to change his views! Shaffer Obituary for Stanley Rossiter Benedict. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Baltimore, , Biographical Memoirs. National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D. Barry G. Firkin and Judith A. Whitworth: Dictionary of Medical Eponyms. The Parthenon Publishing Group. New edition in Benedict received his Ph. Bibliography A method for the estimation of chlorides, bromides and iodides. With J. Journal of the American Chemical Society, , Detection of barium, strontium and calcium.

Detection and elimination of reducing sugars. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, , 3: The detection and estimation of reducing sugars. The New York Medical Journal, , ,. A note on the reduction of alkaline copper solutions by sugar. The Biochemical Journal, , 2: The estimation of total sulfur in urine. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, , 6: Preparation of glyoxylic acid as a reagent.

Paths of excretion of inorganic compounds IV. Excretion of magnesium, and V. Excretion of calcium. With Lafayette Benedict Mendel American Journal of Physiology, , 25, , Estimation of urea in urine. With Frank Gephart. A reagent for the detection of reducing sugars. The influence of salts and non-electrolytes upon the heart. American Journal of Physiology, , A note on the estimation of purine nitrogen in urine.

With Tadasu Saiki. A note on the estimation of total sulfur in urine. The estimation of urea. The determination of total sulfur in urine. Note on the determination of the amino-acid nitrogen in the urine. With John Raymond Murlin Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, , 9: Note on the determination of amino-acid nitrogen in urine.

A modified Hempel gas pipette. Biochemical Bulletin, New York, , 3: 1. The two test tubes were then added to our famous beaker water bath along with the distilled water control. As with the other demonstrations, the water was brought to a boil and left for 5 minutes. This is nothing to worry about. The test tubes were subsequently added back to the beaker water bath which was still hot, and the color change unexpectedly began almost immediately:.

The sucrose solution without hydrochloric acid stayed the exact same color as the control solution, as expected; the negative result shows no reducing sugars were present. The sucrose solution which was boiled with hydrochloric acid turned a bright red, the positive result indicating the presence of reducing sugars. Nothing like a good bit of chemist detective work! The history is fascinating, but equally the colors are stunning.

January 22, May 18, September 26, Thank you so much! Great explanation. Should have been better if you could have described the errors and sources of errors. Other than that, really great! Thanks again. Samuel writes guides using practical chemistry demonstrations to help explain tricky concepts taught in high school.

Along with his chemistry studies at the University of Warwick, his hobbies include writing, ant keeping and plant growing. Skip to content High School Level Guides. Table of Contents. American chemist Stanley Rossiter Benedict — The three chemicals can then be mixed into a ml glass beaker. After measuring out ml of distilled water, this can then be added to the mixture. The filtered solution was transferred to a ground glass reagent bottle to be stored for another day — as you can tell from the lighting it is dark and a chemist needs their beauty sleep!

The Magic of filtration! You can see that magnetic stir bar I was talking about in the right solution. From left to right: milk; chicken; bread; orange juice.

Standard concentrations of dextrose at 0. A more complex reaction scheme for any budding organic chemists out there! Ahh much better. Remember that D-Glucose is another name for dextrose can we all agree at how satisfying dextrose is to say? And HCl is short for hydrochloric acid.

Which Artificial Sweetener is the Safest? Newest Oldest Most Voted. To test for the presence of reducing sugars in food, the food sample is dissolved in water, and a small amount of Benedict's reagent is added.

The mixture is heated in a boiling water bath, and any precipitate formed is recorded as a positive result for the presence of reducing sugars in the food. Sucrose table sugar is a non-reducing sugar and thus does not react with Benedict's reagent. Sucrose can produce a positive result with Benedict's reagent if heated with dilute hydrochloric acid prior to the test. The acidic conditions and heat break the glycosidic bond in sucrose through hydrolysis.

The products of sucrose decomposition are glucose and fructose, which can be detected by Benedict's reagent as described above. Benedict's reagent can be used to test for the presence of glucose in urine. Glucose found to be present in urine is an indication of diabetes. Once a reducing sugar is detected in urine, further tests have to be undergone in order to ascertain which sugar is present. Only glucose is indicative of diabetes. Benedict's quantitative reagent is used to determine how much reducing sugar is present.

This solution forms as white precipitate rather than a red one and so can be used in a titration. Categories: Copper compounds Chemical tests Coordination compounds. Read what you need to know about our industry portal chemeurope.