Strychnine. A. Claus and R. Glassner. (Ber. der deutsch. chem. Ges., xiv., 773.) The authors point out that strychnine of commerce has not always the same composition, its formula being in some instances C22 H22 N2 O2, and in others C21 H22 N2 O2. This variation in composition is not regarded by them as due to the presence of impurities, but they believe that Strychnos nux vomica produces this alkaloid with a variable amount of carbon, a supposition which has also been entertained by Schützenberger. The main part of the authors' paper is devoted to an account of some nitro-derivatives produced by the action of potassium nitrite on strychnine salts. 2 Chlorinated Derivatives of Strychnine. MM. Richet and Bouchardat. (Comptes Rendus, xci., 990.) The bodies prepared and described by the authors are monochlorinated strychnine, C21 H24 Cl N2 O2, and trichlorinated strychnine, C21 H2 Cl2 N2 O2. The former of these is a weak base soluble in water, chloroform, ether, and alcohol, capable of combining with acids, and as poisonous as strychnine itself. The trichlorinated derivative is also soluble in ether and chloroform, but insoluble in water, and almost without physiological action. It does not combine with acids. The mode of preparation of these two bodies, as well as their reactions, are fully described in the paper. 2 Combination of Strychnine with Iodoform. M. Lextrait. (Comptes Rendus, xcii., 1057-1059.) The compound described by the author has a composition answering to the formula C21 H22 Na O2, 3 CH I3, and is obtained by dissolving 5 grams of crystallized iodoform and 12 grams of strychnine in 500 c.c. of alcohol of 85 per cent., allowing the mixture to stand in a closed vessel, then collecting the crystals formed on a filter, washing them with a small quantity of alcohol, pressing them between filter paper, and drying them without exposure to light or air. The compound is very unstable, being decomposed by light with the liberation of iodoform. It is also decomposed when heated to 90° C., as well as by the action of boiling water or dilute acids. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in ether and chloroform. Alcohol partially decomposes it, and therefore cannot be used as crystallizing medium. Quinine appears to form an analogous compound, but the author only succeeded in obtaining it in a gelatinous form, containing an excess of quinine. Brucine. W. A. Shenstone. (From a paper read before the Chemical Society, June 16th, 1881.) The author has extracted the alkaloids from 56 lbs. of nux vomica, with the precaution of avoiding all heat in the presence of free acids or alkalies, and of employing as little heat as possible in the whole process. The yield of crystalline alkaloids was about 20 ounces. The brucine was purified by conversion into hydriodide, subsequent regeneration with sodium carbonate, etc. It was ultimately obtained quite free from strychnine. A number of combustions were made, with results agreeing with the formula C23 H26 No O4. When treated with alcoholic soda, brucine was found to yield hydrobrucine, C23 H28 N2 05. Besides strychnine and brucine, no other alkaloids could be detected in the seeds. Characteristics of Aconitine and Allied Alkaloids. Dr. C. R. A. Wright. (Pharm. Journ., 3rd series, xi., 2.) C26 Aconitine (C.33 H43 N O12, or C, H, NO, {O COC, H.).—This {C, alkaloid appears to be the chief, if not the only, active alkaloidal ingredient in the roots of A. Napellus, occurring therein together with amorphous alkaloids of lower molecular weight, and containing a higher percentage of carbon. From these alkaloids the free base partially separates by solution in ether and spontaneous evaporation, the ether being preferable previously mixed with very light petroleum spirit, as recommended by Duquesnel. If the amount of aconitine present relatively to the amorphous bases is not considerable, it is often impossible to get the former to crystallize at all (at any rate on the small scale); in any case a considerable amount of aconitine is retained in solution permanently by the agency of the amorphous alkaloids, which thus cause considerable loss, much as alkaline salts do in the case of sugar crystallization. Even after repeated crystallization from ether or ether-petroleum spirit, aconitine retains mechanically minute quantities of the amorphous bases, which, however, can be wholly eliminated by conversion into a salt, crystallization thereof, and regeneration of the alkaloid (by treatment with an alkali and crystallization from ether) from the salt thoroughly freed from the mother-liquor which contains the amorphous base as salt: the hydrochloride, hydrobromide, and nitrate are salts answering well for this purpose, especially the two last. When perfectly pure, aconitine melts in a capillary tube at 183-184° (corrected), the melting point being lowered by the presence of amorphous bases; the final complete melting is preceded by a slight fritting, beginning a few degrees below the melting point, and is accompanied by only very slight darkening with the pure base, by more if impure. This test, together with the following, constitute the two simplest criteria of purity. The alkaloid to be examined is dissolved in a few drops of some dilute acid, some pure ether added, and then some sodium carbonate solution in excess, and the whole well agitated in a stoppered bottle; the ethereal solution is decanted and allowed to evaporate spontaneously; when only a small quantity is left this is decanted from the crystals that have formed into another vessel, and allowed to evaporate to dryness. If the aconitine were tolerably pure, the last drop of ethereal mother-liquor will dry up to crystals; but if more than minute quantities of amorphous bases were present, these will accumulate in the mother-liquor, the last portion of which will dry up not to crystals, but to a varnish or gum-like mass. The gold salt of aconitine should not darken on drying over sulphuric acid in the dark (presence of amorphous alkaloids often causes decomposition to a small extent on drying); after desiccation, first over sulphuric acid till visibly dry, and finally in the water-bath, it should contain a trifle under 20·00 per cent. of gold (theoretical percentage, 19.92). If the base contains traces of amorphous alkaloids, the gold percentage is a little higher, specimens purified only by crystallization from ether generally containing 20-2-20-3 per cent. of gold. On heating for some hours to 100° in a closed vessel with alcohol and a little caustic potash, aconitine should yield close to 19 per cent. of benzoic acid (theoretical percentage, 18-92) which can be extracted and estimated by evaporation of the alkaline fluid to dryness, solution in water, treatment with hydrochloric acid and ether, and spontaneous evaporation of the ethereal solution, with purification of the residue from resinous bye-products if necessary. The acid thus formed should not produce any substance capable of giving a green colour to ferric chloride on fusion at 250° with caustic potash, and treatment of the "melt" with hydrochloric acid and ether, and evaporation to dryness of the ethereal solution (indicates freedom from pseudaconitine). Pure aconitine should contain close to the theoretical amounts of carbon and hydrogen, viz., 61:39 and 6.67 per cent. respectively. These analytical figures are the only reliable means of distinguishing aconitine from the closely allied alkaloid recently described under the provisional name japaconitine," which agrees very closely with aconitine in all the other above-named points. ((OH)3 Pseudaconitine, (Câ H49 N O12, or C27 H 37 NO {, 0), the 36 27 5 chief if not the only active ingredient in A. Ferox roots. Con siderably less easily crystallizable than aconitine; melting point when pure near to 104-105° (not very distinctly marked, fritting commencing a few degrees lower), no darkening in colour accompanying the final fusion. No conclusions as to purity can be drawn from the incomplete crystallizability of the base (or its nitrate), as infinitesimal amounts of impurity, too small for analytical determination, and other circumstances, greatly affect the crystallizing power. Should yield on "saponification" with alcoholic potash near to the theoretical amount of veratric (dimethylprotocatechuic) acid, ( ᏅᏟ H, (viz. 26:49 per cent.), especially after purification of the acid formed from resinous bye-products; and should give analytical numbers near to the following theoretical values:— Slightly higher percentages of gold being found (as with aconitine) when the base is only purified by crystallization from ether, and hence retains minute quantities of the amorphous bases occurring together with it in the roots. Japaconitine (Cee H33 N2 O21).-Provisional name applied to a base occurring in aconite roots (query as to species) recently imported into England from Japan. First examined by Paul and Kingzett, who attributed to it the formula C29 H43 N O9. Exhibits very close similarity to aconitine, furnishing almost exactly the same amount of benzoic acid on saponification (theoretical percentage, 19.6), and melting at almost the same temperature, but slightly higher (184-186° instead of 183-184° corrected). Crystallizes from ether just about as readily as aconitine, furnishes very similar salts, and can only be distinguished conveniently by analytical numbers, the theoretical values being uniformly higher than with aconitine, viz. :— Carbon in free base 63.67 7:07 20.39 In a subsequent communication to the Pharmaceutical Journal (p. 148), Dr. Wright admits that a considerable amount of work is yet requisite before the question of the economical production of aconitine is definitely settled; but he points out that the questions now remaining to be solved are essentially of a pharmaceutical and manufacturing nature, and as such somewhat out of the province of the scientific chemical investigator; these questions being simply the determination of the circumstances (as to soil, climate, age of plant, etc.) which influence the relative proportions between the crystallizable aconitine and the non-crystalline bases naturally accompanying it; so that the kind of plants most suitable for the extraction of the alkaloids may be known; and the elaboration of the best method of separating the crystallizable from the amorphous substances on the large scale. Researches on Jaborandi. E. Harnack and H. Meyer. (Liebig's Annalen, cciv., 67-84.) The authors claim to have established the presence of a second alkaloid in jaborandi leaves, by extracting from commercial pilocarpine an alkaloid distinct from pilocarpine. This new alkaloid they propose to name "jaborine." It is described as a very strong base, distinguishable from pilocarpine by its slight solubility in water and its greater solubility in ether, and also by its different physiological action. While the action of pilocarpine is said to be somewhat analogous to that of nicotine, jaborine is asserted to correspond closely in its action to atropine. Jaborine volatilizes with difficulty at high temperatures. Its salts are soluble in water and alcohol, and do not crystallize. The authors believe the formula of jaborine to be either the same as that of pilocarpine, or to be closely related to it. 2 For pilocarpine the authors give the formula C11 H16 N2 O2, as deduced from their analyses of its aurochloride and platinochloride. This formula, however, does not agree with the one previously assigned to it by Kingzett (see Year-Book of Pharmacy, 1877, p. 615). A full account of the process by which jaborine was extracted from commercial pilocarpine will be found in the original paper. The Alkaloid of Jaborandi. C. T. Kingzett. (Pharm. Journ., 3rd series, xi., 587.) Referring to Harnack and Meyer's assertion of the existence of a second base in jaborandi (see the foregoing article), the author thinks that these chemists have not adduced sufficient evidence of the existence in true jaborandi of two distinct alkaloids. The method employed by him for the isolation of pilocarpine was such that the resulting product would contain the entire amount of base present in the plant, and its examination furnished no reason for believing it to contain more than one substance. Further, its ultimate analysis gave results concordant with those obtained by similarly analysing the wellcrystallized chloroplatinate. He, therefore, feels still convinced that jaborandi contains only one alkaloid, but admits the possi |