Demethylation of N : N-Dimethyl-p-Amino-azobenzene (Butter Yellow) with Hydrogen Peroxide

Abstract

THE reaction which butter yellow undergoes with the Milas reagents¹ (hydrogen peroxide in tert. butyl alcohol with osmium tetroxide as catalyst) is being studied in detail to determine the extent to which it parallels the reaction occurring with this substance in vivo, since the in vitro reaction is accompanied by a chemiluminescence². Miller and Miller^3,4 have recently given evidence that hydroxylation of butter yellow or its demethylated derivatives occurs to some extent in the rat, and, as it was expected that the Milas reagents would effect hydroxylation of the substance, they seemed suitable for the comparison. Separation of the reaction products, however, also showed that much of the action had taken place at the tertiary nitrogen atom. The following results have been obtained so far.