Chemical examination of the root and leaves of Morinda longiflora / by Marmaduke Barrowcliff and Frank Tutin.
- Barrowcliff, Marmaduke.
- Date:
- [1907?]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Chemical examination of the root and leaves of Morinda longiflora / by Marmaduke Barrowcliff and Frank Tutin. Source: Wellcome Collection.
6/16 page 1910
![of material which was soluble in petroleum. This petroleum extract yielded palmitic acid, together with traces of acetic and formic acids, and a small amount of the hydrocarbon hentriacontane. The leaves were also found to contain some of the previously-mentioned hydroxy- methoxymethylanthraquinone (m. p. 290°), but their mod interesting constituent is a new, crystalline alcohol, which it is proposed to desig¬ nate morindanol. This substance possesses the formula Cg8H6204, melts at 278°, and has [ a]D + 65*9°. It yields methylmorindanol, CggH^Og'O’CHg (m. p. 116°), on treatment with sodium ethoxide and methyl iodide. Morindanol is represented by the same general formula, C?1H2W_1404, as three other crystalline alcohols which have recently been isolated in these laboratories, namely, lippianol, C25H3604 (m. p. 300—308°; [a]D + GTO0), obtained from Lippia scaberrima, Sender (Power and Tutin, Arch. Pharm., 1907, 245, 344), and micromerol, C3sH5204 (m. p. 277° ; [a]D +57°), and micromeritol, C30H46O4 (m. p. 294—296°; [a]D +61*4°), both recently isolated by Drs. F. B. Power and A. H. Salway from Micromeria Chamissonis. These four substances, moreover, exhibit a marked similarity in properties, and it would therefore appear probable that they are chemically related. No similar compounds appear previously to have been described. In order to ascertain whether “ Ojuologbo ” possesses any pro¬ nounced physiological action, the following experiments were con¬ ducted for us by Mr. PI. H. Dale, Director of the Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories, to whom our thanks are due. Amounts of the extracts corresponding respectively to 17 grams of the dried leaves and to 7*5 grams of the dried root were administered to small dogs, but no definite effects of any kind could be observed. Experimental. I. Examination of the Root. For the purpose of this investigation, a quantity (109 kilograms) of the finely-ground root was completely extracted by continuous percolation with hot alcohol. The liquid thus obtained was freed from the greater part of the solvent, the resulting dark brown extract then mixed with water, and distilled with steam until the liquid flowing from the condenser was no longer acid. The distillate contained drops of a heavy, yellow oil possessing a peculiar odour. It was extracted with ether, and the ethereal liquid shaken with a solution of sodium carbonate. The deep red, alkaline liquid thus obtained yielded, on acidification and extraction with ether, a small quantity of a red oil which deposited crystals on standing. These,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b3061174x_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
