The nomenclature of the so-called accessory food factors (vitamins).
The nomenclature of the so-called accessory food factors (vitamins).
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DOI：
10.1042/bj0140660
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发表时间：
1920-10-01
影响因子：
4.1
通讯作者：
Drummond, JC
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Drummond, JC
1912年，霍普金斯发表了他的经典论文，其中他描述了某些饮食成分对生长和营养过程的重要影响。他把这些物质称为”饮食的辅助因素“。大约在同一时间，正在研究实验性脚气病的芬克为同一类物质创造了”维生素”的名字。从那时起，文献一直被用来表示这些或类似的饮食成分的各种名称所混淆（auximones，Bottomley; nutramines，Abderhalden等）。通常对芬克的维生素一词提出的批评是，终止“-ine”是一个严格采用化学命名法来表示基本性质的物质，而没有证据支持他最初的想法，这些不可或缺的膳食成分是胺。然而，这个词已经被广泛采用，因此，在我们对这些物质本身的实际性质有更多的了解之前，完全消除它是困难的，也许是不明智的。现在提出的建议是，最后的”-e”被删除，因此所产生的单词维生素是可以接受的，根据化学学会采用的标准命名方案，该方案允许组成不确定的中性物质具有以”-in“结尾的名称。“如果采纳这一建议，建议放弃麦科勒姆提出的有些繁琐的命名法（脂溶性A、水溶性B），而将这些物质称为维生素A、B、C等。在这些因子被分离出来并确定其真正性质之前，这种简化的方案应该是相当足够的。
IN 1912 Hopkins published his classical paper in which he described the important influence of certain dietary constituents on the processes of growth and nutrition. These substances he termed the" accessory factors of the diet." At about the same time Funk, who was working on the subject of experi-mental beriberi, coined the name" Vitaimine" forthe same class of substances. Since then the literature has been a good deal confused by the great variety of names which have been utilised to denote these or similar dietary constituents (auximones, Bottomley; nutramines, Abderhalden, etc.). The criticism usually raised against Funk's word Vitamine is that the termination"-ine" is one strictly employed in chemical nomenclature to denote substances of a basic character, whereas there is no evidence which supports his original idea that these indispensable dietary constituents are amines. The word has, however, been widely adopted, and therefore until we know more about the actual nature of the substances themselves, it would be difficult and perhaps unwise to eliminate it altogether. The suggestion is now advanced that the final"-e" be dropped, so that the resulting word Vitamin is acceptable under the standard scheme of nomenclature adopted by the ChemicalSociety, which permits a neutral substance of undefined composition to bear a name ending in"-in." If this suggestion is adopted, it is recommended that the somewhat cumbrous nomenclature introduced by McCollum (Fat-soluble A, Water-soluble B), be dropped, and that the substances be spoken of as Vitamin A, B, C, etc. This simplified scheme should be quite sufficient until such time as the factors are isolated, and their true nature identified.