IN acid solution, dialuric acid and alloxan may readily be converted into one another. The change is one involving two equivalents of hydrogen: NH.CO NH .CO CO/ . OH -- CO/ .CO/ .CO/ The addition of one equivalent of a reducing agent to alloxan or of one equivalent of an oxidising agent to dialuric acid leads, on the other hand, to the separation of the sparingly soluble substance, alloxantin. The latter is also formed when solutions of these two reactants are mixed in equivalent proportions, and it has therefore been natural to regard it as a molecular compound comparable to the quinhydrones and meriquinones. It is generally believed that alloxantin is extensively dissociated into its two components in aqueous solution.
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Richardson et al. (1929) studied this question.