Chemical examination of Ornithogalum thyrsoides / by Frederick B. Power and Harold Rogerson.

  • Frederick Belding Power
Date:
[1910]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Chemical examination of Ornithogalum thyrsoides / by Frederick B. Power and Harold Rogerson. 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.

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    dried, when it amounted to 2‘7 Gm. It Was distilled under 15 Mm. pressure, when it passed over as a nearly colourless oil, which solidified on cooling. On crystallisation from ethyl acetate it separated in small, lustrous leaflets, melting at 74°--75°. 0-1334 gave 0'4156 CO2 and 0'1782 H2O. C = 84'9 ; H = 14'8. CmH72 requires C = 85‘4 ; H = 14‘6 per cent. The above substance was thus identified as pentatriacontane. The alcoholic mother-liquors from the pentatriacontane were concentrated to about 250 C.c., and allowed to stand, when a further quantity of this hydrocarbon separated. This was removed, and the filtrate evaporated to a small bulk, when, after standing for some time, a solid separated in the form of plates. The latter, when collected and dried, amounted to 0'5 Gm. This substance was crystallised twice from a mixture of ethyl acetate and dilute alcohol, when it formed colourless laminae, melting at 133°-134°, and gave the colour reactions yielded by the phytosterols. 0'1042, on heating at 110°, lost 0‘0052 H2O. H2O = 4‘9. 0 0590 of anhydrous substance gave 0'1820 CO2 and 0'0662 H2O. G = 841 ; H = 12-4 C27H46O, H2O requires H2O = 4'5 per cent. C27H46O requires C = 83'9 ; H = 11‘9 per cent. This substance was thus identified as a phytosterol. Its specific rotatory power was determined with the following result:— 0'0990 of anhydrous substance in 20 C.c. of chloroform gave av> — 0° 20' in a 2-Dcm. tube, whence [o]d — 33’6°. The alkaline, aqueous liquid, from which the above-mentioned substances had been removed by means of ether, was acidified and distilled with steam. The distillate was a slightly opalescent, acid liquid, and contained a few oily drops floating on the surface. It was, therefore, extracted with ether, which removed a small amount of an oily acid, from which a silver salt was prepared. The latter was analysed with the following result:— 0'2958 of salt gave on ignition 0‘1568 Ag. Ag = 53'0. C4H7O2 Ag requires Ag = 55’4 per cent. CjH902 Ag requires Ag = 51‘7 per cent. The above-mentioned oily acid was, therefore, evidently a mixture. After extraction with ether the distillate was found to contain small amounts of formic and butyric acids. The liquid remaining in the distillation flask contained a