The constituents of olive bark / by Frederick B. Power and Frank Tutin.
- Frederick Belding Power
- Date:
- [1908]
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: The constituents of olive bark / by Frederick B. Power and Frank Tutin. 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.
14/16 page 915
![The liquitl obtained by shaking the ethereal extract of the aqueous liquid wiih a second portion of sodium carbonate solution also yielded a small amount of this crystalline substance, but all the subsequent extractions \fith this alkali gave only tarry products. The original ethereal liquid, after complete extraction with sodium carbonate, yielded only a brown, viscid syrup. The different portions of the crystalline substance were mixed and recrystallised from alcohol, when it was obtained in short, yellow needles melting at about 265°. This product was found to be identical with the small amount of crystalline substance which had been ob- tained from the ethereal extract of the brown resin, as already described. The products from the two sources were therefore mixed and again crystallised from alcohol, after which the substance still melted at about 265°, although not quite sharply, some decomposition occurring. On drying at 110°, it was found to be anhydrous : 0 0988 gave 0-2220 COg and 0-0338 HgO. 0 = 61-3; H = 3-8. As the amount of this substance available was not suflScient for another analysis, a further portion of it was obtained by working up a larger quantity of the original extract of the bark, and this, on analysis, gave the following result: 0-0988 gave 0-2216 COg and 0-0327 H.gO. 0 = 61-2 ; H = 3-7. Oi^HjgOg requires 0 = 61 *3 ; H = 3 -6 per cent. The properties of this substance do not agree exactly with those of any compound of the formula Oj^HjoOg which has previously been described. It was thought, however, that it might possibly be identical with a substance prepared by A. Michael {J.p\ Chem., 1887, [ii], 35, 510) by the condensation of ethyl oxalate with resorcinol, which is stated to fuse at about 259°. A quantity of the latter substance was therefore prepared, but was found to differ totally in many of its properties from the compound from olive bark. The yellow, crystalline substance is therefore a new compound, and it is proposed to designate it olenitol. Olenitol is slightly soluble in water, ether, or ethyl acetate, and somewhat more readily so in alcohol. Its dilute solution in water or aqueous alcohol is slightly yellow, and exhibits a pale blue fluorescence. When dissolved in cold sulphuric acid, olenitol gives a colourless solution, but its solution in alkalis is intensely yellow, and, when largely diluted, displays a violet-blue fluorescence. An aqueous solu- tion of olenitol gives with ferric chloride an intense, moss-green colour. Olenitol does not contain a carboxyl group, since its acetyl derivative is insoluble in cold aqueous alkalis. - It must, therefore, be regarded {IS a phenolic compound, Methoxyl groups also do not appear to be](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22425305_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
