The constituents of leptandra / by Frederick B. Power and Harold Rogerson.

  • Frederick Belding Power
Date:
[1910?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The constituents of leptandra / by Frederick B. Power and Harold Rogerson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/18 (page 1945)
    wliicli separated from the ethereal solution in needles. This sub¬ stance, although not further characterised, was considered to repre¬ sent the active principle of the drug, and for it the name “ lep- tandrin ” has since been proposed. The same investigator (Amer. J. Pharm., 1859, 31, 557) also observed the presence of “ a saccharine principle having the properties of mannite.” It was subsequently indicated by F. F. Mayer (Amer. J. Pharm., 1863, 35, 298), and more recently by J. U. Lloyd (Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1880, 28, 421), that the bitter principle of the drug is a glucoside, although no definite substance of this class had actually been isolated. Steinmann (Amer. J. Pharm., 1887, 59, 229) states that he obtained the bitter principle in crystals of a pale lemon- yellow colour, but they yielded no dextrose when boiled with dilute sulphuric acid, and their solution gave no precipitate with the usual alkaloid reagents. It will be apparent from the brief review of the literature given above that, with the exception of the recorded presence of mannitol, nothing of a very definite nature has up to the present been known respecting the constituents of “ leptandra.” It was therefore deemed of interest to subject it to a complete examination, and the results are embodied in the present communication. Experimental. The material employed for this investigation consisted of a good quality of commercial “leptandra,” which conformed in its characters to the description given of the latter in the United States Pharmacopoeia. A small portion (10 grams) of the material was first tested for an alkaloid, but the reactions were so slight as to indicate the presence of not more than traces of such a substance. Twenty grams of the ground material were successively extracted in a Soxhlet apparatus with various solvents, when the following amounts of extract, dried at 100°, were obtained: Petroleum (b. p. 35—50°) extracted 0T1 gram = 0'55 per cent. Ether ,, 0-56 „ = 2-80 „ Chloroform ,, 1-00 ,, = 5*00 ,, Ethyl acetate ,, 0-65 „ = 3*25 „ Alcohol ,, 2-95 „ = 1475 „ Total 5 '27 grams = 26 *35 per cent. For the purpose of a complete examination, a quantity (55’56 kilograms) of the ground material was extracted by continuous percolation with hot alcohol. After the removal of the greater portion of the alcohol, a viscid, dark-coloured extract was obtained, amounting to 19’79 kilograms.