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.
4/16 page 100
![This so-called colocynthin, to which the formula C56H840^ was assigned, was stated to yield, on heating with dilute acids, dextrose and “ colocynthein,” the latter having been described as an amorphous resin. The same investigator noted the occurrence of a tasteless, crystalline substance, designated “ colocynthitin,” which was found to be insoluble in water and cold absolute alcohol, but soluble in boiling alcohol and ether, although its characters do not appear to have been further determined. Henke [Arch. Phctrm., 1883, 221, 200) could obtain a product corresponding with colocynthin only in the form of a yellow, amorphous powder, and was unable to confirm the state¬ ment respecting its glucosidic character. Johannson (Zeitsch. anal. Chem., 1885, 24, 154) has stated that “ colocynthin, when heated with dilute sulphuric acid, yields colocynthein, elaterin, and bryonin,” and he recorded some colour reactions which were supposed to differentiate these products. Naylor and Chappel (Pharm. J., 1907, [iv], 25, 117), in a paper entitled : “ On Cucumis trigonus, Koxb., and Colocynthin,” have com¬ pared a product obtained by them from the fruit of the above-mentioned species of Cucumis, indigenous to India, with the so-called “ colocyn¬ thin ” obtained from colocynth by Henke’s method and by a modification of the latter. It is stated that whilst the product obtained from either the Indian fruit or from colocynth by Henke’s process was amorphous, “that resulting from the modified process was most largely deposited on spontaneous evaporation of its solvent in pale yellow needles.” They were thus led to conclude, in the first place, that “ colocynthin prepared from Citrullus Colocynthis may be obtained in a crystalline state, despite the failure of Henke and of Wagner to induce it to assume a crystalline form” ; secondly, that notwithstanding the doubts cast by Henke upon its decomposition by acids into colocynthein and a sugar, their results on the contrary confirmUhose of Johannson (loc. cit.), that colocynthin is capable of hydrolysis, and that it yields, amongst other products, colocynthein and elaterin, to which they may add—and a sugar, dextrose. The same authors furthermore state that “ colocynth contains a white, crystalline body, agreeing in its general characters with the colocyn- thetin (colocynthitin) of Walz.” There is, however, no evidence that any of the products prepared and examined by Naylor and Chappel were pure or homogeneous substances, and their comparison of them was chiefly restricted to certain colour reactions which are by no means characteristic of the substances they are supposed to identify. On the o|.her hand, it may quite safely be assumed that the products referred to were very indefinite mixtures. The present investigation has shown that colocynth contains a considerable amount of a-elaterin (Trans., 1909, 95, 1989), which](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30616852_0004.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
