The constituents of the rhizome and roots of caulophyllum thalictroides / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway.
- Frederick Belding Power
- Date:
- [1912?]
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.
7/24 page 195
![total amount of pure alkaloid thus obtained, calculated as the free base, was about 5 grams. It was analysed, and its molecular weight determined, with the following results: 0-1076 gave0-2794 C02 and 0'0780 H20. C = 70*8; H = 8*0. 0-1122 „ 13-4 c.c. N2 at 21° and 762 mm. N = 13*6. 0*4666, in 2723 benzene, gave M — 0*387°. M.W. = 221. CJ2HlfiON2 requires C = 70*6; H = 7*8; 1ST = 13 7 per cent. M.W. = 204. The alkaloid was optically active, and a determination of its specific rotatory power gave the following result: 0*2256, made up to 20 c.c. with water, gave aD — 5°0/ in a 2-dcm. tube, whence [a]D —221*6°. A small amount of the alkaloid was dissolved in a known volume of A/10-sulphuric acid, and the excess of the latter titrated with N/ 10-barium hydroxide, using iodoeosin as indicator in the presence of ether. 0*1305 neutralised 6*4 c.c. A/10-H2SO4, which is the theoretical amount required for C]2II](;ON2 as a monacidic base. The alkaloid was readily soluble in water, alcohol, chloroform, or benzene, but less readily in ether. The aurichloride was obtained in golden-yellow needles, which decomposed at 205°. 0*1550 gave 0*1512 C02, 0*0443 H20, and 0*0561 Au. C = 26*6; H =3*2; Au = 36*2. C12H17ON2,AuC14 requires C = 26*5; H = 31; Au = 36*2 per cent. The composition of the above-described alkaloid and its salts, together with its general characters, indicated it to be methyl- cytisine. This compound had not hitherto been known to occur in nature, although it has previously been prepared by the methyla-tion of cytisine, CjjH^ONg, an alkaloid found in the common laburnum (Ct/tisus Laburnum, Linne) and other species of Gy thus, as well as in various other plants. It represents the alkaloid previously obtained by J. U. Lloyd (Vroc. Amer. Pharm-. Assoc., 1893, 41, 115), and designated by him “ caulophylline,” as its composition had not then been determined. Methylcytisine yicrate appears not to have previously been prepared. This salt crystallised from hot water in long, yellow needles, which sintered at about 200°, and melted completely at 228°. Although the characters of the above-described alkaloid were in quite complete agreement with those of methylcytisine, as recorded in the literature (compare Buchka and Magalhaes,* Ber., 1891, 24, 678; Partheil, Arch. Pharm., 1892, 230, 448; and Rauwerda, ibid., 1900, 238, 484), a small amount of the latter compound wa<3 pre- * The melting point of 245°, as given by Buchka and Magalhjes (loc. cit.), for metny I cytisine, is obviously an error.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30619567_0007.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
