Chemical examination of kô-sam seeds (Brucea sumatrana, Roxb.) / by Frederick B. Power and Frederic H. Lees.

  • Frederick Belding Power
Date:
[1903]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Chemical examination of kô-sam seeds (Brucea sumatrana, Roxb.) / by Frederick B. Power and Frederic H. Lees. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    was then combined and recrystallised many times from absolute alcohol. The final product, representing the portion least soluble in alcohol, melted indefinitely between 112 and 129°. It was analysed. 0-1304 Gm. gave 0-3937 COa and 0-1438 H20. C = 82-3 ; H = 12-2 This substance gave with chloroform, together with acetic anhydride and sulphuric acid, a colour reaction resembling that shown by the cholesterols and allied substances. The choles- terols, C26H440, require, however, C = 83 9 and H = 118 per cent. The discrepancy in the figures could not be attributed to the presence of the hydrocarbon, which might seem likely from the melting point and a consideration of the very sparing solu- bility of the hydrocarbon in alcohol, since this requires 85 3 per cent, of carbon. The several alcoholic mother liquors obtained in the course of separating the fraction melting at 112-129° were ultimately ■combined and concentrated to a very small volume. From this liquid there separated a fraction, exceeding in amount the pre- ceding one, which melted at 130-131°. It was recrystallised from absolute alcohol without appreciably altering its melting point. On analysis :— 0-0412 Gm. gave 0-1240 C02 and 0-0456 H20. C = 821; H =12-3. 0T228 Gm. gave 0-3699 C02 and 0-1307 H20. 0 = 82-1; H = 11-8. When again crystallised from absolute alcohol it melted at 130-132®. On analysis: — 0-1270 Gm. gave0-3868 C02 and 0-1376 H.20. C = 83 0 ; H = 12-0; C20H34O requires G = 82-8; H = 11-7 per cent. A determination of its specific rotation, in chloroform, gave the following result:— ■an = — 0°54'; c = 2-388; 1 = Idem. Hence [a]280 = —37-7°. D L J D When a small amount of the substance was dissolved in about 2 G.c. of chloroform, 20 drops of acetic anhydride added, and subsequently one drop of concentrated sulphuric acid intro- duced, a transient rose-pink colour was produced, changing successively to blue, green, and, on long standing, to brown. Several substances corresponding to the formula C.20H34O, which in their general character appear to be related to the cholesterols, have already been found in various plants, and designated respectively as quebrachol, cupreol, and cinchol or cinchocerotin. (Compare Beilstein’s ‘ Handbuch der org. Chemie,’ 3 edit., Band II., p. 1068.) It is therefore probable that, like the cholesterols, they constitute a distinct class of substances. \
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