Chemical examination of scammony root and of scammony / by Frederick B. Power and Harold Rogerson.
- Frederick Belding Power
- Date:
- [1912?]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Chemical examination of scammony root and of scammony / by Frederick B. Power and Harold Rogerson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
15/20 page 410
![in alcohol, nor the aqueous liquid obtained by the precipitation of the resin appeared to contain any substance of interest. The optical rotatory power of the resin was determined with a small portion which had been decolorised by treatment with animal charcoal. A solution in absolute alcohol, of which 5 c.c. contained 0*5042 gram of the resin, gave in a 1-dcm. tube, whence [a]j, -21*15°. Thirty grams of the resin were dissolved in alcohol, mixed with purified sawdust, and the thoroughly dried mixture extracted successively in a Soxhlet apparatus with light petroleum (b. p. 40—60°) and ether. The petroleum removed only 0*1 gram of soft, amorphous material, whereas the remainder of the resin, which was extracted by the ether, could easily be reduced to a powder, and after treatment with animal charcoal was obtained nearly colourless. A solution in absolute alcohol, of which 5 c.c. contained 0*4384 gram of the purified ethereal extract of the resin, gave a^j —1°56' in a 1-dcm. tube, whence [ajj, —22*03°. For the further examination of the ethereal extract of the resin a small quantity (25 grams) was hydrolysed with a solution of barium hydroxide in the manner described in connexion with the corresponding extract of the resin from scammony root. The volatile acids (3*2 grams) obtained by this treatment consisted of a mixture of tiglic acid (m. p. 64°) and a valeric acid (b. p. 172—175°), the former being present in predominating amount. After the removal of the above-mentioned volatile acids by distil¬ lation in a current of steam, there remained a dark yellow, strongly acid liquid, which was concentrated under diminished pressure to the consistency of a syrup. The latter was dissolved in alcohol, mixed with purified sawdust, and the thoroughly dried mixture extracted successively in a Soxhlet apparatus with ether, chloro¬ form, ethyl acetate, and alcohol. The first three solvents removed T9, 0*85, and 0*3 gram respectively of amorphous, syrupy products, which were glucosidic in character, but the amounts did not permit of their further examination. The alcohol, on the other hand, removed 10*2 grams of an amorphous product, which, when dried, could be reduced to a powder, and was stable in the air. It was optically active. An aqueous solution, of which 5 c.c. contained 0*2624 gram of the above product, gave Cj,-3°6' in a 2-dcm. tube, whence [a]„-29-5° In order to ascertain the nature of the above-mentioned alcohol extract of the hydrolysed resin, a quantity (8 grams) was acetylated](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30619531_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
