The constituents of Clematis vitalba / by Frank Tutin and Hubert William Bentley Clewer.

  • Tutin, Frank.
Date:
1914.]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The constituents of Clematis vitalba / by Frank Tutin and Hubert William Bentley Clewer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CLXXIII.— The Constituents of Clematis vitalba. By Frank Tutin and Hubert William Bentley Clewer. Clematis vitalba, Linne, is a climbing plant which is well known in this country under the name of “Traveller’s Joy” or “Old Man’s Beard.” It is stated in books of reference to contain a volatile, acrid substance, tannic acid, mucilage, and earthy salts, together with an alkaloid, “clematine.” On referring, however, to an early publication on the subject (Gaube, J. Pharm. Chim., 1869, 10, 122), it was found that the author did not claim to have isolated an alkaloid, but only “ a product which was alkaline,” and no mention is made of its being an organic substance. Attention has been drawn to the subject of Clematis by Dr. F. Baum, who considered it to merit a chemical examination. In view of the very scanty information at present available regarding the constituents of the plant in question, it has been investigated by the present authors. No alkaloid, and only a trace of volatile substance could be detected, and the statements regarding the acrid, irritant pro¬ perties of the plant cannot be confirmed. The most interesting substances which have now been isolated are caulosapogenin, C42H6606, and a new (jlucoside of the latter, which has the pro¬ perties of a saponin. A summary of the results of the present investigation will be found at the end of this paper. Experimental. The material employed for this investigation consisted of the flowering branches of Clematis vitalba, Linne, which had been