The composition of cinchona febrifuge / by J.A. Goodson and T.A. Henry.

  • Goodson, John Augustus.
Date:
[1930]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The composition of cinchona febrifuge / by J.A. Goodson and T.A. Henry. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    separation and estimation of the four principal cinchona alkaloids have mostly been developed for use with the total alkaloids of “factory bark” in which quinine is the predominant constituent, and Howard and Chick10, the authors of what is probably the best process for this purpose, point out that when applied to the total alkaloids of other cinchona barks the results are apt to be anomalous. With this warning in mind it was decided that in examining the present samples, each of the fractions “ quinine sulphate,” “ cinchonidine tartrate,” “quinidine hydriodide ” and “ cinchonine,” would be carefully investigated in order to ascertain that it was what it purported to be. For the purposes of this secondary examination the present authors have depended upon the fact that Howard and Chick’s process gives a reasonably good separ¬ ation of the two lsevorotatory alkaloids, quinine and cinchonidine, from the dextrorotatory pair, quinidine and cinchonine, and that this separation can be checked by determining the optical rotation of the fractions. They have further made use of the fact that the contamination of (a) quinine by cinchonidine and vice-versa, or (b) of quinidine by cinchonine and vice-versa, can be detected and its amount estimated by methoxyl determinations, since quinine and quinidine each contain one methoxyl group, whilst cinchonidine and cinchonine contain none. It was also found in the course of the work that the presence of amorphous alkaloids (“ quinoidine ”) in cinchonine can be readily detected by the same methods, since “ quinoidine ” contains methoxyl. Examination of Samples. As explained already, only samples A and B received from the League of Nations were examined in the first instance. The results of six separate analyses of these two samples are summarised in Table II. Febrifuge A was a dark grey powder, containing 3'9 per cent, of moisture and yielding 10'3 per cent, of ash on ignition. Febrifuge B consisted of a yellowish-grey powder which had cohered into a single friable mass. The moisture content was 7*3 per cent, and the ash left on ignition 4*5 per cent. Analyses 1 and 2 and the corrected results deduced therefrom in columns 3 and 4 were obtained by the application of Howard and Chick’s process to the febrifuges as received. Various difficulties were encountered, due, it was thought, to the large amount of mineral matter in febrifuge A and to the presence of much gummy and tarry material in febrifuge B. It was hoped that these difficulties might be avoided by dissolving each febrifuge in acid, recovering the total alkaloids in the usual way and using the recovered alkaloids for analysis, the results being expressed as percentages of the original products. The process was easier to use