Abstract
The chemical nature of a colored product obtained from the reaction of retinoic acid with 74% sulfuric acid was studied. The colored product in its sulfuric acid layer, when it was diluted with water, was extracted by chloroform and the extracted material was soluble in KOH or NaOH. Thin layer chromatogram of the extracted material suggested that the reaction product was a single substance. UV-, IR-, and NMR-patterns of the material suggested that the chemical structure of the colored reaction product will be simillar with retinoic acid but hydrated at one of the conjugated double bonds in the side chain.
