The constituents of colocynth / by Frederick B. Power and Charles W. Moore.
- Frederick Belding Power
- Date:
- [1910?]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The constituents of colocynth / by Frederick B. Power and Charles W. Moore. Source: Wellcome Collection.
13/16 page 109
![The material employed consisted of the dried, peeled fruit of Citrullus Colocynthis, Schrader. The pulp of the fruit, deprived of its seeds, represented 24‘4 per cent, of the whole. On extracting the pulp with alcohol, and subjecting the resulting extract to distillation with steam, a very small amount of a pale yellow essential oil was obtained. From the portion of the extract which was soluble in water, the following substances were isolated : (i) A new dihydric alcohol, C22H3602(0H)2 (m. p. 285—290°), designated as citrullol, which is apparently a lower homologue of ipuranol, and yields a diacetyl derivative melting at 167°. (ii) An amorphous, alkaloidal principle, which is a very weak base, and from which no crystalline derivative could be prepared ; it possesses an extremely bitter taste, and represents one of the purgative principles of the fruit. The aqueous liquid from which the above-mentioned substances were isolated contained, furthermore, a quantity of in¬ organic salts, a little sugar, and a very small amount of an amorphous, glucosidic substance. The portion of the alcoholic extract which was insoluble in water consisted chiefly of resinous material, from which, however, a quantity of a-elaterin (m. p. 232°; [a]D — 68‘9°) was isolated (compare Trans., 1909, 95, 1989). After the separation of the latter substance, the resin was extracted with various solvents, when it yielded a small amount of hentriacontane, C31II(H (m. p. 68°) ; a phytosterol, C27H4(.0 (m. p. 160—162°, optically inactive); a mixture of fatty acids, and a further quantity of a-elaterin, together with a little of the above- described alkaloidal principle. None of the extracts from the resin were glucosidic. The ether and chloroform extracts possessed marked purgative properties, even after the complete removal of the active alkaloidal principle. The seeds of the colocynth, which represented 75 5 per cent, of the entire peeled fruit, were found to contain traces of an alkaloidal principle, a small amount of an enzyme which hydrolyses /3-glucosides, and a quantity of fatty oil corresponding to 12‘72 per cent, of the weight of the seed. The constants of the fatty oil, and of the total fatty acids obtained therefrom, were determined, and from the oil a small amount of a phytosterol, C20II34O, was isolated, which melted at 158—160°, and had [a]D+ 8T°. The results of the present research have established the fact that the so-called “ colocynthin ” and “ colocynthitin,” as well as the other products obtained from colocynth by previous investigators to which specific names have been attached, consisted of mixtures of a very indefinite character, and that the amount of glucosidic substance contained in the fruit is extremely small. On the other hand, it has now been ascertained that the purgative action of colocynth is due to](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30616852_0013.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
