Chemical examination and physiological action of nutmeg / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway.

  • Power, Frederick B. (Frederick Belding), 1853-1927.
Date:
[1908]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Chemical examination and physiological action of nutmeg / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway. 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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    Am. Joui'. Pharm. ) December, 1908. j Chemical Examination of Nutmeg. 5 73 substances of a resinous character. The ethereal liquid was finally washed until free from alkali, and the ether removed, when about 0.5 gramme of a solid substance was obtained. The latter, after recrystallization from alcohol, melted at 54° C., and was identified as trimyristin. The aqueous liquid, after extraction with ether, was treated with a solution of basic lead acetate, which yielded a voluminous brown precipitate. The latter was collected, washed, suspended in water, and decomposed by hydrogen sulphide. On filtering the mixture a reddish-brown liquid was obtained, which, when concentrated under diminished pressure, yielded only a resinous product. It gave a deep green color with ferric chloride, and appeared to consist chiefly of tannic and coloring matters. The filtrate from the basic lead acetate precipitate was deprived of the excess of lead by means of hydrogen sulphide, again filtered, and the liquid concentrated under diminished pressure. A large quantity (about 1000 grammes) of a thick syrup was thus obtained, but after standing for a long time it deposited nothing crystalline. It was optically inactive, contained an abundance of sugar, and readily yielded an osazone which, after a few crystallizations from pyridine, melted at 212-2130 C., and was evidently d-phenylglucosa- zone. A portion of the syrupy liquid was dried on prepared saw- dust, and the mixture successively extracted in a Soxhlet apparatus with ether, ethyl acetate, and alcohol. The ether removed nothing, and the other solvents yielded only syrupy extracts from which nothing crystalline could be obtained. Another portion of the original syrupy liquid was heated for some time with dilute sul- phuric acid, when a little furfural was produced, but there was no evidence of the presence of a glucoside. Examination of the Resin ((3). The resinous matter which had been separated from the aqueous liquid, as previously described, formed, when dry, a black, brittle solid, and amounted to 490 grammes. It was dissolved in alcohol, and intimately mixed with purified sawdust. The mixture was then thoroughly dried, and extracted successively in a Soxhlet apparatus with light petroleum (b. p. 40-60° C.), ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and alcohol, when the following amounts of extract, dried at ioo° C. were obtained: 1