Correction.
We wish to correct an obvious error in our paper, "The Crystalline Form of Sodium Ascorbate" (Science 1948, 108, 713). On page 713 the sentence at the top of the second column should read: Forty grams (1 mole) of ascorbic acid was dissolved in 600 cc of hot absolute methyl alcohol. While still hot, it was treated under stirring with 250 cc of a warm solution of methyl alcohol containing 12.3 g (1 mole) of sodium methylate. The structure of sodium ascorbate as given by the U.S.P. (XIII, p. 898) was shown in our paper with the sodium substituting the acidic hydrogen of the carboxyl group, but we stated that it is commonly believed that the neutralization involves the hydroxyl group attached to the third carbon. We should also have added that with neutralization of this enolic hydroxyl group by sodium, the lactone ring of the ascorbic acid remains unbroken unless excess of sodium is added. The values found for carbon, hydrogen and sodium in the analysis of our sodium ascorbate are in agreement with the theoretical values calculated for the sodium lactone salt.
Ruskin
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Merrill
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