Chemical examination of kô-sam seeds (Brucea sumatrana, Roxb.) / by Frederick B. Power and Frederic H. Lees.

  • Power, Frederick B. (Frederick Belding), 1853-1927.
Date:
[1903]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Chemical examination of kô-sam seeds (Brucea sumatrana, Roxb.) / by Frederick B. Power and Frederic H. Lees. 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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    days, and to the filtered liquid about three times its volume of alcohol was added. After standing a few hours, the flocculent precipitate was filtered off, washed with a little alcohol, and dried over sulphuric acid. The yield of product was 3 Gm. It was a grayish powder, which dissolved readily in water, form- ing a brown solution. The latter, when acidulated with acetic acid, was rendered slightly turbid by the usual proteid reagents- When a little crystallised amygdalin was brought into an aqueous solution of the substance, or into a mixture of the crushed seeds with water, the odour of benzaldehyde was rapidly developed. In contact with potassium myronate the odour of mustard oil could not be so positively recognised. Although the substance obtained by the above method was necessarily impure, it is evident that the seeds contain a hydrolytic enzyme. Quantitative Determination of Tannin.—As most of the drugs employed in the treatment of dysentery contain more or less tannin, and as the presence of such a substance had been indi- cated by the preceding experiments, it seemed desirable to determine the amount contained in Ko-sam seeds. 20 Gm. of the powdered seeds were extracted with successive small portions of boiling water, and the cold, filtered liquid diluted to the volume of 250 C.c. 50 C.c. of this liquid when evaporated, and the residue dried in a water-oven till of constant weight, afforded 0 600 Gm. of extract. Another portion of the liquid was allowed to macerate with hide powder for two days. 50 C.c. of this filtered liquid, when evaporated and the residue dried, as before, till of constant weight, afforded 0527 Gm. of extract. From these results the amount of substance absorbed by the hide powder, which is to be regarded as tannin, corresponds to 1-8 per cent, of the seeds. It was observed thatv even after prolonged treatment with hide powder, the liquid still gave a greenish colour with ferric salts, but this was due, as will be seen later, to a substance differing essentially from tannin. Separation of the Constituents of the Seeds. After the preceding experiments a larger quantity of material was operated upon, as follows:—4 kilos of the finely-ground seeds were extracted in a percolator with cold alcohol, but as this removed but a small proportion of the fatty oil it was followed by light petroleum, which removed a large amount, and the extraction was then finally completed with alcohol. After distilling the petroleum and alcohol from these liquids, the residues were combined, a little water added, and steam passed