Chapter 1:
Historical Sketch –
from Element to Organic
Compound
Germanium
as an element was identified
in 1886 by a German chemist
Clemens Winkler. The existence
of an element with Germanium's
atomic structure was actually
predicted by the Russian
chemist Mendeleev, who left
a space in his periodic
table for an element which
he named 'ekasilicon'. Winkler
isolated this element during
an analysis of the ore argyrodite,
a silver mineral, from the
Himmelsfurst mine, St. Michaelis
near Freiburg in Saxony
and named it Germanium after
his homeland. Germanium
belongs to family four of
the periodic table, along
with carbon, silicon, tin
and lead, and is usually
classified as a semi-metal,
or said to have semiconductor
properties.
Germanium is not that rare
in the universe, with estimates
ranging from 10-55 parts
per million (ppm) (92).
On the earth's crust its
concentration is approximately
6 ppm therefore being more
abundant than gold, silver,
cadmium, bismuth, antimony
and mercury, and in the
same range as molybdenum,
arsenic, tin, boron and
beryllium. Germanium rarely
forms its own mineral deposits.
In most cases, Germanium
is found in small (ppm)
levels in the sulphidic
ores of lead, zinc and copper,
although occasionally levels
of 100 ppm have been found
in deep thermal deposits
of zinc. Germanium is highly
concentrated in some coals,
about 500 ppm. The highest
reservoirs, worldwide, of
Germanium are found in Tsumeb
(formerly German South West
Africa) and Kipushi (Zaire),
with concentrations reaching
1000 ppm.
Technological Applications
of Germanium
Several investigators studied
microbial, medicinal and
botanical effects of Germanium
during the 1920's and 30's,
but until 1948, Germanium
was mainly relegated to
the status of a rare element.
Radar engineering prior
to the second World War
had led to the use of crystal
detectors based upon the
use of germanium crystals,
and in 1948, Germanium was
plucked from obscurity into
the limelight by Bell Laboratories
researchers Brattain, Bardeen
and Shockley, who utilized
its semiconductor properties
for the development of modern
electronic devices, transistors
and diodes.
During the seventies, Germanium
was replaced by silicon
in the semi-conductor engineering
field; however new areas
of application opened up
for this mineral. For Germanium
'Metal' these include: semi-conductor
photodiodes, rectifiers
and solar cells; special
alloys for electronics and
dental engineering; mirrors,
optical systems and radiation
divisors for laser engineering;
and infra-red engineering
devices. Technological applications
for Germanium dioxide include
the production of polyester
chips, fluorescent tubes,
special glass and in the
pharmaceutical industry,
the production of therapeutically
beneficial organic Germanium
compounds.
The Birth of an
Idea – Organic Germanium
as Medicine
The events leading to the
synthesis of an organic
Germanium compound with
therapeutic properties are
an inspiring tale, like
many scientific discoveries,
involving a mixture of serendipity,
intuition, persistence and
faith. The figure of the
now deceased Japanese researcher,
Kazuhiko Asai, looms prominently
in this story. For without
Dr. Asai's steadfast belief
and ability to persist despite
great personal hardship,
it is hard to imagine how
organic Germanium could
have made such a rapid leap
from idea to actuality as
a therapeutic compound.
Once something is created
and exists in reality, it
can be analysed, tested
and perhaps improved. However,
the creative process, stemming
from the conception of an
idea and carried through
to the birth of a tangible
entity, is somewhat mysterious
and awe-inspiring, which
often provokes in the humble
person gratitude to whatever
forces which inspired his
insight. We owe great tribute
to discoverers like Asai,
who make great sacrifices
and commitments to follow
their curiosity to completion.
The story of Dr. Asai's
synthesis of the first organic
Germanium compound bears
at least a brief telling.
His book 'Miracle Cure -
Organic Germanium' is highly
recommended (2).
The connection between
semiconductors and organic
Germanium is germane (no
pun intended) to this saga,
for Asai, upon reading about
semiconductor properties
of electrons of Germanium,
pondered over the effects
such a substance might have
in the body.
"Germanium atomic
number 32, has 32 electrons,
four of which are constantly
moving unsteadily along
the outermost shell of the
atom. These four electrons
are negative electrical
charge carriers and if approached
by a foreign substance,
one will be ejected out
of its orbit. This famous
phenomenon is known in electronics
as the positive-hole effect
which is so ingeniously
utilized in forming transistors
and diodes. When one of
these four electrons is
ejected, a positive-charge
hole is created and the
remaining three seize electrons
from other atoms in order
to maintain balance."
(1)
Asai was specifically thinking
about the process of dehydrogenation,
and whether Germanium might
be effective in removing
toxic hydrogen ions from
the body. More about this
later.
Research: Germanium Content
in Plants
In 1945, Asai helped to
establish the Coal Research
Foundation in Japan, from
which came most of the early
work on Germanium. Research
and painstaking analysis,
in those days without sophisticated
equipment, established the
existence of Germanium in
Japanese coal, predominantly
in the woody section, or
vitrit.Asai intuited that
the source of Germanium
in coal was from the plant
matter, and not from the
surrounding soil, which
led to a whole series of
experiments investigating
Germanium content in plants
traditionally known to be
therapeutic in Chinese medicine,
such as Shelf fungus, ginseng,
Wisteria gall, and other
health promoting foods including
Aloe, Comfrey and Garlic
(2).
Asai found high Germanium
content in these plants
and hypothesized that Germanium
plays important roles in
the photo-electrochemical
process of photosynthesis,
the metabolism and self-defence
(protection from invading
viruses) process of these
plants. These questions
regarding the role of Germanium
in plant metabolism and
protection are undoubtedly
important research topics
for rigorous investigation.
At Last - An Organic
Gemanium Compound
Inorganic forms of Germanium
had been extracted from
coal and for use by the
electronics industry. It
now remained for Asai's
group to do the reverse
- convert the extracted
inorganic Germanium into
an organic form. This turned
out to be a laborious and
daunting exercise which
consumed more than a decade
of painful, unfruitful failures.
Concurrently, with the decline
of the coal industry in
Japan and Dr. Asai's source
of research funds, times
were hard and Asai endured
poverty with the exhaustion
of his personal finances.
Finally, a water-soluble
organic Germanium compound,
carboxy ethyl sesquioxide
of Germanium, a white powder,
was synthesized in November
1967. Asai, by this time
suffering from severe rheumatoid
arthritis, tested the Germanium
on his condition which,
within ten days, had disappeared.
In his book "Organic
Germanium Miracle Cure"
(2), Asai condenses his
more than twenty years of
experience into a rather
short volume, containing
insights, hypotheses and
convictions, interspersed
with experimental data.
The incredible interest
and research energy which
has been expended over the
decades is a testament to
the courage, foresight and
intuition of Dr. Asai,for
rigorous research has come
far to date in documenting
the scientific basis for
Dr. Asai's originally intuitive
ideas of organic Germanium's
therapeutic properties.
