. H OW TO A NALYSE C HEMICAL C OMPOSITION ? We can continue asking in the same way, what type of organic compounds are found in living organisms? How does one go about finding the answer?
To get an answer, one has to perform a chemical analysis. We can take any living tissue (a vegetable or a piece of liver, etc.) and grind it in trichloroacetic acid (Cl CCOOH) using a mortar and a pestle. We obtain a thick slurry. If we were to strain this through a cheesecloth or cotton we would obtain two fractions.
One is called the filtrate or more technically, the acid-soluble pool, and the second, the retentate or the acid-insoluble fraction. Scientists have found thousands of organic compounds in the acid-soluble pool.