Chemical examination of Ornithogalum thyrsoides / by Frederick B. Power and Harold Rogerson.

  • Frederick Belding Power
Date:
[1910]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Chemical examination of Ornithogalum thyrsoides / by Frederick B. Power and Harold Rogerson. 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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    consisted of a dark green resin, and amounted to about 4 per cent, of the weight of the entire dried plant. This resin, when extracted successively with light petroleum (boiling-point 35-50°), ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and alcohol, was resolved into a number of products, each of which was separately examined. The petroleum extract yielded a considerable amount of palmitic acid, which was present both in a free and combined state, together with pentatriacontane, C85H72, a phytosterol C27H46O (melting-point 133-134°; [a]n - 33'6°), and a very small amount of volatile fatty acids. The ether extract consisted chiefly of resinous material, but from it there was isolated a small amount of the dihydric alcohol, ipuranol, CesHs802(0H)2 {Anier. Journ. Pharm., 1908, 80, 264, 576 ; Journ. Chem. Soc., 1908, 93, 907 ; 1909, 95, 249; 1910, 97, 7). The specific rotatory power of ipuranol is [a]n — 37'2°, whilst its acetyl derivative has [a]D — 25'4°. The chloroform, ethyl acetate, and alcohol extracts were all dark-coloured, amorphous products. The chloroform extract, after acid hydrolysis, yielded a very small amount of a crystal- line substance melting at 176-180°, but otherwise nothing definite could be obtained from any of these products. The reputed poisonous properties of the plant have been fully confirmed, inasmuch as the administration of 5 grammes of the ground air-dried material to guinea-pigs was attended with fatal results. The toxic principle appears to be chiefly con- tained in the resin, and especially in that portion of the latter which is soluble in ether. As, however, all the extracts obtained by the successive treatment of the resin with various solvents were physiologically active, with the exception of the portion removed by light petroleum, there are apparently several poisonous substances present. The attempts to obtain a definite active principle from these various products were, however, unsuccessful. In conclusion, we desire to express our best thanks to Dr. H. H. Dale, Director of the Wellcome Physiological Eesearch Laboratories, for having kindly conducted for us the physio- logical experiments involved in this investigation. The Wellcome Chemical Research Laboratories,