Studies on vitamin E

THE unsaponifiable matter from various cereal germ oils is known to possess vitamin E activity, but the majority of investigators appear to have employed solely wheat germ as starting material in attempts to isolate the antisterility factor.Chemical investigation of rice germ oil was first recorded by Kimm & Noguchi [1933] who identified melissyl alcohol, ergosterol, dihydrositosterol, y-sitosterol and a new sitosterol, M.P. 1560, as constituents of the unsaponifiable matter from this oil.Later Kimm [1935, 1, 2] employed rice germ oil in an effort to isolate vitamin E. Following the procedure employed by Evans & Burr [1927] in experiments with wheat germ oil, he claimed to have obtained from the unsaponifiable matter an oil which when tested biologically by the Evans method on rats was active in a single dose of 3 mg.