Solubility of Urea

In the libraries, large books on solubilities are found. There are hand-books which give the solubility of organic and inorganic compounds and also in the appendices of reference books are found a limited number of solubilities of important substances. The solubility stands foremost among the physical properties of chemical compounds. The chemist finds use for solubility tables in almost all lines of work and if they were complete, they would be of inestimable value to science. Among the important and common compounds, for which solubility data is scant, is urea.

The object of the present investigation has marily to measure the solubility of urea in as many solvents as were available and at different temperatures. From the variation of solubility with temperature, the heat of solution of urea in several solvents has also been computed. Urea is an important compound of the chemical life, occurring in the urine of human beings and especially that of animal life. Besides this, it occurs in blood, milk, the fluid of the eyes, and in the perspiration coming from the body, There can be no doubt is the final product of the regressive metamorphosis of the living tissues or of their disintegration into simpler compounds by means of which the final elimination of the normal structure is affected. It is not known definitely in what way this disintegration takes place in the animal body, but it has been advanced, since urea is readily prepared from ammonium cyanate and is with readiness transformed into ammonium carbons te, that ch the decomposition of the proteins in the body give rise first to the formation of one or both of these substances which are subsequently changed into urea.