The constituents of the fruit of Ecballium elaterium / by Frederick B. Power and Charles W. Moore.

  • Frederick Belding Power
Date:
[1909]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: The constituents of the fruit of Ecballium elaterium / by Frederick B. Power and Charles W. Moore. 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.

    10/12 (page 1992)
    definite could be isolated from it, it was boiled for some hours with dilute alcohol containing 3 per cent, of its weight of sulphuric acid. The chief product of this operation was, however, entirely resinous, and, as no sugar was formed, it was evident that the material contained nothing glucosidic. After extraction with amyl alcohol, as above described, the aqueous liquid was concentrated, and treated with a large volume of strong alcohol. This precipitated a quantity of inorganic material, consisting chiefiy of potassium chloride and sulphate, together with a sugar which yielded d-phenylglucosazone, melting at 216°. The clear liquid was then decanted and the alcohol removed, when a small quantity of a syrup was obtained. This was dissolved in a small quantity of water and kept for several days, but nothing separated. The solution was then diluted with water, and, after adding 5 per cent, of its weight of sulphuric acid, the whole was boiled for several hours. The only products resulting from this treatment that could be identified were a little foi-mic acid and furfuraldehyde. Summa/ry. The results of the present investigation of the fruit of Ecballium Elaterium may be summarised as follows : In accordance with the previous observation of Berg {BvU. Soc. chim., 1897, [iii], 17, 85), the fruit was found to contain a small amount of an enzyme which is capable of hydrolysing /3-glucosides. The liquid obtained by the extraction of 27 kilograms of the fresh fruit with alcohol yielded, on concentration, a quantity (45*5 grams) of a green resin, and, by the further evaporation of the liquid, 6'5 grams of brown, resinous material were separated. The green resin, when extracted with various solvents, yielded a very small amount of a hydrocarbon (m. p. 68°), which was probably hentriacontane, a phytosterol, (m. p. 148°; [a]o +3-2°); a substance melting at 258—260°, which appears to be related toipuranol, 023143302(011)2 ; a mixture of fatty acids; and a product corresponding to the so-called “ elaterin,” the characters of which have previously been elucidated by the authors {Pharm. J., 1909, [iv], 29, 501). It is now proposed to designate the Isevorotatory constituent of crude elaterin as a-elaterin, and the dextrorotatory, physiologically active constituent as )8-elaterin. From the brown, resinous material, with the exception of small amounts of elaterin, nothing definite could be isolated. The portion of the alcoholic extract of the fruit which was soluble in water contained a considerable amount of inorganic salts, consisting chiefiy of potassium chloride and sulphate, and a sugar which yielded cZ-phenyl- glucosazone (m. p. 216°).