The constituents of the flowers of Anthemis nobilis / by Frederick Belding Power and Henry Browning, Jun.

  • Power, Frederick B. (Frederick Belding), 1853-1927
Date:
1914.]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The constituents of the flowers of Anthemis nobilis / by Frederick Belding Power and Henry Browning, Jun. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CLXXII.— The Constituents of the Flowers of Anthem is nobilis. By Frederick Belding Power and Henry Browning, jun. The flower-heads of the composite plant, Anthemis nobilis, Linne, commonly known as chamomile flowers, or, more specifically, as the Roman or English chamomile, are used to a considerable extent medicinally, and are recognised by the British, United States, and other national Pharmacopoeias. Although the above-mentioned flowers have hitherto been the subject of several investigations, apart from the essential oil which is yielded by their distillation with steam, and a substance designated as anthesterol, comparatively little of a definite nature has been known respecting their constituents. Camboulises (/. Pharm. Chim., 1871, [iv], 14, 337) has stated that the flowers contain, besides wax, fat, and dextrose, an acid resembling the so-called “ anthemic acid ” of Pattone (ibid., 1859, [iii], 35, 198), but which, as in the case of the latter product, was not definitely characterised, and was doubtless an impure substance. Naudin (Bull. Soc. chim., 1884, [ii], 41, 483) has recorded the isolation of a hydrocarbon, C18H36 (m. p. 63—64°), termed anthemene, and a crystalline substance (m. p. 188—189°) termed anthemol, whilst Klobb, Gamier, and Ehrwein (ibid., 1910, [iv], 7, 948) state that they found a hydrocarbon of the composition C30H62. Klobb (Bull. Soc. chim., 1902, [iii], 27, 1229) obtained from the flower-heads of the Roman chamomile a crystalline substance, designated “ anthesterin ” (anthesterol), which was regarded as a new compound belonging to the class of phytosterol6. It was stated to melt at 221—223°, to have [a]D -f48'3° (in ethylene bromide), and to possess the formula C28H4S0 or C29H50O. The same investi¬ gator (Ann. Chim. Phys., 1909, [viii], 18, 135) subsequently described a- and /3-modifications of the benzoyl derivative of anthesterol, and stated that under certain conditions, which were difficult to determine, the /3-compound is converted into a y-modi- fication (compare also Compt. rend., 1909, 148, 1272). In a later publication (Compt. rend., 1911, 152, 327) anthesterol was con¬ sidered to possess the formula C31H520,3H20, to melt at 195°, and, in the anhydrous state, to have [a]D +79'4° (in chloroform). It was, furthermore, stated to have been resolved, by means of its acetyl derivatives, into three isomerides of different melting points, and, although the acetyl derivatives yielded bromo-compounds of varying composition, the anthesterol was, nevertheless, considered