The constituents of the rhizome and roots of caulophyllum thalictroides / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway.

  • Frederick Belding Power
Date:
[1912?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The constituents of the rhizome and roots of caulophyllum thalictroides / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    about 1 gram of a pal© yellow essential oil was obtained. This bad a pleasant odour, and yielded the colour reaction for furfuraldehyde. After the above operation there remained in the distillation flask a dark-coloured aqueous liquid (A), which contained in suspension a considerable quantity of grey, amorphous material (B), and, on cooling, the whole formed a soft, gelatinous mass. The separation of the amorphous material from the aqueous liquid was effected by agitating the mixture with hot amyl alcohol, which dissolved all the solid substance, with the exception of a very small amount of indefinite material which was removed by filtration. The amyl alcohol extract was subsequently washed with water, the washings being added to the main portion of the aqueous liquid. Examination of the Aqueous Liquid (A). The aqueous liquid, which had been treated with amyl alcohol as above described, was next extracted many times with ether. The ethereal liquids were united, washed, dried, and the solvent removed, when 2 grams of a viscid, brown residue were obtained. Th^ was agitated with alcohol, when a sparingly soluble solid separated, which, when crystallised from a mixture of pyridine and alcohol, was obtained in colourless leaflets, melting and decomposing at 275—280°. The substance yielded an acetyl derivative melting at 169°, which, together with its colour reactions, indicated it to be citrullol, C23H4502(0H)3. It was subsequently obtained in larger amount from an ethereal extract of the above-mentioned grey, amorphous material, and was then completely identified. The aqueous liquid, after extraction with ether as above described, frothed strongly on agitation, and evidently contained some saponin-like substance which had not been removed by the previous treatment with amyl alcohol. With the object of effecting the complete removal of this substance, the aqueous liquid was again shaken repeated with hot amyl alcohol, these extracts being then united, washed with a little water, and the solvent removed by distillation under diminished pressure. A quantity (25 grams) of a dark brown solid was thus obtained, which was glucosidic, and possessed the characters of a saponin. It was dissolved in alcohol, and the solution kept for some time, when a colourless, crystalline substance separated, which, after recrystallisation from alcohol, melted and decomposed at 250—255°. This compound was found to be identical with a glucoside which was obtained in larger amount from the amorphous material extracted by the first treat¬ ment of the aqueous liquid with amyl alcohol, and has been designated caulosaponin. It is fully described in connection with the examination of the grey, amorphous product (B).
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