The constituents of Withania somnifera / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway.

  • Power, Frederick B. (Frederick Belding), 1853-1927.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The constituents of Withania somnifera / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway. 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.

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    Action of Potassium Hydroxide on the Alkaloid. Isolation of a Crystalline Base, Ci2HieN2. A portion of the above-described alkaloid was heated for an hour with an alcoholic solution of potassium hydroxide. The alcohol was then removed, water added, and the alkaline liquid extracted with ether. The ethereal solution was then shaken with dilute hydrochloric acid, and the acid liquid neutralised with aqueous sodium carbonate, when a small amount (02 gram) of a colourless solid was precipitated. This substance was crystallised from dilute alcohol, and was thus obtained in colourless, glistening leaflets, melting at 116°: 0-0792 gave 0-2230 C02 and 0’0597 H20. C = 76 8; H = 8‘4. 00655 „ 85 c.c. moist N2 (over KOH) at 14° and 760 mm. N = 15'3. C]2H1CN2 requires C = 766; H = 85; N = 14'9 per cent. The above-described substance would thus appear to possess the empirical formula C12H16N2, and, as it differs in its properties from any substance of this formula which has hitherto been recorded, it is evidently a new compound. The base, C12H16N2, is readily soluble in alcohol, ethyl acetate, ether, chloroform, or benzene, but only sparingly soluble in light petroleum or hot water. It is neutral towards litmus, but is easily dissolved by an excess of dilute mineral acids. When heated in an ignition tube, it first melts, and then sublimes unchanged. The hydrochloride was prepared by adding to an ethereal solution of the base a drop of concentrated hydrochloric acid. A crys- talline solid was thus deposited, which, when recrystallised from a mixture of ether and alcohol, separated in thin, colourless needles, sintering at 190°, and melting at 201°. The picrate crystallised from hot water, in which it is only moderately soluble, in silky, yellow needles, melting at 171°. After the removal of the crystalline base from the product of the above reaction, the alkaline liquid yielded, on acidification, a small quantity of a solid substance, which, however, could not be obtained crystalline. Chloroform Extract of the Resin. Isolation of a New Monohydric Alcohol, Withaniol, c25h33o4-oh. The portion of the resin extracted by chloroform was relatively large, amounting to 123 grams. It was redissolved in chloroform, and the solution extracted with aqueous ammonium carbonate, sodium carbonate, and sodium hvdroxide, each of which removed