The constituents of Gloriosa superba / by Hubert William Bentley Clewer, Stanley Jospeh Green and Frak Tutin.

  • Clewer, Hubert W. B.
Date:
1915.]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The constituents of Gloriosa superba / by Hubert William Bentley Clewer, Stanley Jospeh Green and Frak Tutin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    extract which was non-basic was thoroughly examined, but it yielded only resinous products, besides a small amount of the previously described 2-hydroxy-6-methoxybenzoic acid. The ethyl acetate and alcohol extracts of the resin were dark brown, resinous masses, and amounted tg 18'3 and 49 grams re¬ spectively. Nothing definite could be obtained from them, and they contained nothing of a glucosidic nature. Summary and Physiological Tests.—The results of the foregoing investigation may be summarised as follows: The material employed consisted of the dried tubers of Gloriosa superb a, Linn., which had been specially collected in Ceylon. Pre¬ liminary tests showed the presence of an enzyme, which readily hydrolysed amygdalin, and a considerable amount of an alkaloid. An alcoholic extract of the ground material yielded, in addition to amorphous products, the following definite compounds: (1) Benzoic, 2-hydroxy-6-methoxybe/izoic, and salicylic acids; (2) choline; (3) dextrose; (4) palmitic and a mixture of unsatu¬ rated acids; (5) small amounts of a hydrocarbon (m. p. 63—65°) and a fatty alcohol (m. p. 77°); (6) a mixture of phytosterok which contained stigmasterol; (7) a mixture of phytosterolins, con¬ taining stigmasterol glucoside; (8) a mixture of alkaloids which consisted chiefly of colchicine, C'22H9506N, together with small amounts of two other crystalline bases. The amount of colchicine present in the drug, when estimated according to the method of the United States Pharmacopoeia, was found to be O'3 per cent. The physiological action of the colchicine from Gloriosa was compared with that of the base from Colchicum autumnale at the Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories by Dr. J. H. Burn, to whom our thanks are due, when the two bases were found to be identical in their effects. It is evident that the toxic properties of Gloriosa tubers are due, essentially, to the colchicine present. The Wellcome Chemical Research Laboratories, London, E.C. [Received, May 13th, 1915.] PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BT R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.