Chemical examination of the fruit of Brucea antidysenterica / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway.

  • Frederick Belding Power
Date:
[1907]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Chemical examination of the fruit of Brucea antidysenterica / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway. 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.

    9/12 (page 7)
    and with ferric chloride a dark brown colouration was produced. It readily reduced Fehling’s solution, and gave a precipitate with tannic acid. As it was shown in the investigation of the fruit of Brucca sumatrana {he. cit.) that an intensely bitter principle could be extracted from the aqueous liquid corresponding to that above described by shaking with chloroform, the same treatment was adopted in the present instance. On repeatedly extracting the hquid with this solvent, however, only a very small amount of substance was removed. This possessed a bitter taste, but could only be obtained in the form of a dark brown varnish, differing in this respect from the corresponding bitter principle from the fruit.of Brucea sumatrana. On dissolving this product in alcohol and allowing the solution to stand for a long time, a few needle-shaped crystals were deposited, which melted sharply at 108° C., but these did not possess a bitter taste, and the quan- tity was much too small for further examination. The aqueous hquid, wliich had repeatedly been extracted with chloroform, still possessed a bitter taste, and showed the same behaviour towards reagents as above described. It was treated with a shght excess of basic lead acetate, when a copious yellow precipitate was produced. This was collected on a filter, and washed by the aid of a pump with a little water. Basic Lead Acetate Precipitate. This was suspended in water, decomposed by hydrogen sulphide, and the mixture filtered. On concentrating the filtrate under diminished pressure a syrupy hquid was obtained, whicli gave an emerald-green colour with ferric chloride, but no crystalline substance separated from it, even after .standing for a long time. Filtrate from the Basic Lead Acetate Precipitate. This was treated with hydrogen sulphide for the removal of the lead, and the mixture filtered. The filtrate was concentrated under diminished pressure, when it formed a thick, dark brown syrup, which readily reduced Fehling’s solution on heating. A portion of this syrup was treated with phenylhydrazine acetate, when it yielded an osazone, melting at 217° C., thus indicating the presence of a large amount of glucose. With the endeavour to separate the bitter principle which still remained in the syrupy liquid, the latter was mixed with purified sawdust, the mixture thoroughly dried, and then successively extracted in a Soxhlet apparatus with ethyl acetate, alcohol, and water, Both the ethyl acetate and alcohol extracts were