Chemical examination of the fruit of Brucea antidysenterica, Lam / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway.

  • Power, Frederick B. (Frederick Belding), 1853-1927
Date:
[1907?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Chemical examination of the fruit of Brucea antidysenterica, Lam / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The fatty oil was then brought into a flask and a current of steam passed through it, but the distillate contained neither volatile acid nor essential oil. After separating the water from the fatty oil, the latter was mixed with alcohol and hydrolyzed by boiling for a short time with an alcoholic solution of potassium hydroxide (120 Gm). The greater portion of the alcohol was then removed, the strongly alkaline, semi-solid product of hydrolysis mixed intimately with clean sand, the mixture thoroughly dried on a water bath, and Anally extracted in a Soxhlet apparatus with light petroleum. I solution of a Phytosterol, C20H34O. The petroleum extract was of a bright yellow colour, and, after removing the solvent, a quantity (1.5 Gm.) of a yellow solid was obtained. This was dissolved in a mixture of ethyl acetate and alcohol containing a little water, when a substance separated in colourless, glistening plates, which, after several crystallizations, melted at 135-136° C. This substance, when dissolved in chloro¬ form, gave on the addition of a little acetic anhydride and a drop of concentrated sulphuric acid the colour reaction character¬ istic of the phytosterols. It was analysed, with the following result :— 0*3168, when heated at 110 C., lost 0 0172 H20. H20=5 4. 0 1004 of anhydrous substance gave 0 3030 C02 and0T083 H20. C=82-3; H = 120 C20H34O requires C=82 8 ; H = ll*7 per cent. C20H34O,H2O requires H20=5 8 per cent. This substance is thus seen to be a phytosterol. It is appa¬ rently identical with the compound of the same empirical formula which had previously been isolated from the fatty oil of the fruit of Brucea sumatmna (loc. cit.). The mother liquors from the first crystallization of the phytosterol afforded, as is usually the case, a small quantity of a deep yellow, viscid liquid. Acids Obtained by the Hydrolysis of the Fatty Oil. Having removed the neutral constituents of the hydrolyzed oil, the residual mixture of potassium salts and sand was repeatedly extracted with hot water, and the aqueous, strongly alkaline solution acidified with sulphuric acid, when the liberated fatty acid separated on the surface of the liquid as a partially solid