Chemical examination of watermelon seed / by Frederick H. Power and Arthur H. Salway.

  • Power, Frederick B. (Frederick Belding), 1853-1927.
Date:
[1910?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Chemical examination of watermelon seed / by Frederick H. Power and Arthur H. Salway. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/20 (page 374)
    in composition with the expressed oil of pumpkin seed examined by us.1 II. The “Press-cake.”—This material was extracted with hot alco¬ hol, and in the resulting extract the presence of the following constituents was determined: (i) A quantity of fatty oil, corresponding to about 6 per cent, of the weight of the entire seed, and agreeing closely in char¬ acter with that obtained by expression; (2) soluble protein products; (3) a quantity of sugar; (4) resinous material, amounting to about 0.3 per cent, of the weight of the entire seed. From the resin there were isolated a very small amount of a phytosterol (m. p. 158-159°), and a new alcohol, designated cucurbitol, C24H40O4 (m. p. 260°), which yields an acetyl derivative melting at 150°. Cucurbitol appears to be closely related to two other crystalline alcohols recently isolated in these labora¬ tories, namely, grindelol, C23H3804 (m. p. 256-257°), from Grindelia cam- porum, which yields an acetyl derivative melting at 161°, and ipurganoL C2iH3104 (m. p. 222-225°), from jalap resin, which yields an acetyl de¬ rivative melting at 166-167°. These three alcohols are evidently mem¬ bers of a homologous series, which is represented by the general formula C„H2n_804. I III. The Shells.—These amounted to 48.7 per cent, of the weight of the entire seed. They contained a quantity of fatty oil, which was similar in character to that obtained from the kernels by expression, but, in addition to the fatty acids obtained from the latter, a small amount of arachidic acid was isolated. The resinous material contained in the shells corresponded to about 0.3 per cent, of the weight of the entire seed, and from it, besides a mixture of fatty acids, very small quantities of a phytosterol (m. p. 138-140°) and cucurbitol, C24H40O4, were separated. It was observed that these shells, like those of the pumpkin seed, con¬ tain traces of copper. In order to ascertain whether the resin obtained from watermelon seed possesses any physiological activity, some tests were kindly con¬ ducted for us by Dr. H. H. Dale, Director of the Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories. The resin, both from the kernels and the shells of the seed, was administered to a dog in amounts of one gram each, but no obvious effect was produced, and it may therefore be considered quite innocuous.