Otwju Inntitutc. 5i 



piurie acid, auric chloride, platiuic chloride, bromine water, ammonia, sodic bicarbonate, 

 Mayer's reagent, disodic hydric phosphate, and jihospho-molybdic acid. It is soluble in 

 caustic alkali solutions, and is precipitated on passing a current of V\).2 gas through the 

 solution. 



Analyses of five preiiarations of pukateine were made, which agreed within the 

 limits of experimental error with the formula C^^HiyNOg , requiring— 



Carbon .. .. .. •■ •• •• 7208 



Hydrogen . . . . . . . . • • • • ')"1 



Nitrogen . . . . . . . . • • • • -i'^o 



Oxygen .. .. .. •• •• •• 16-96 



10000 



Molecular weight determinations by the melting-point method in phenol gave numbers 

 between 277 and 303, which accords well with the theoretical number 283. Titration 

 values and chlorine estimation of the hydrochloride showed that the formula of 

 the crystalline hydrochloride, after drying at 50° under diminished pressure, was 

 C'i-HiyNOsHCI. " Analyses of the crystalline platinum salt agreed with the formula 

 (CiVHi7N03)2PtCl,. 



Action of Concentrated Sulphuric Acid. 



Pukateine dissolves slowly when macerated with concentrated sulphuric acid in 

 the cold, and on diluting the syrupy solution with water an intensely insoluble amor- 

 phous white compound is formed, which up to the present has baffled all attempts to 

 dissolve or crystallize it. It contanis nitrogen. With gentle heating, sulphuric acid will 

 produce a dull violet colour with pukateine. 



Action oj Hydrochloric Acid in a Sealed Tube. 



A gram of the base was heated in a sealed tube for three hours at 110° with 5 c.c. 

 of concentrated hydrochloric acid. On opening the tube there was no pressure. The 

 product had a glassy appearance, and its product was pure white. It was insoluble 

 in alcohol, ether, glacial acetic acid, aniline, pyridine, acetone, or ammonia. On washmg 

 with hydrochloric acid no pukateine could be recovered. The substance does not melt 

 below 240° t;. It is probably the same as is formed by sulphuric acid, and contains 

 nitrogen. 



A gram of the base heated with 10 c.c. of water in a sealed tube for two hours at 

 140° remained unchanged. 



Colour Reactions of Pukateine. 



If a solution of bichromate of potash in concentrated sulphuric acid, prejjared as 

 for the strychnine reaction, be brought into contact in not too great an excess with a few- 

 crystals of pukateine, a persistent purple coloration is produced. If exce,ss of the I'eagent 

 be applied, a greenish colour merely results. The colour which the reagent gives with 

 strychnine cannot be confused with that given with ])ukateine. The former is a bright 

 violet, quickly changing to purple, and finally to a bright red. At one stage the purple 

 colour of the strychnine reaction closely resembles that of pukateine, but the ephemeral 

 nature of the one precludes confusion with the other. Concentrated nitric acid dissolves 

 pukateine, with the formation of a dark-red colour closely resembling that given by 

 morphine. 



If one dro]i of a very dilute solution of potassium nitrite be added to a solution 

 of pukateine in slight excess of sulphuric acid, a dark red-brown or greenish solution 

 is developed. The base remains unchanged in dilute sul]ihuric-acid solutions. 



Solubilities. 



Pukateine is soluble in caustic-soda solutions, and on concentrating the solution 

 by boiling the pure base crystallized out in characteristic prisms, melting at 200° C. If 

 a solution of pukateine in soda be allowed to stand in an o]ien test-tube for a few hours 

 the solution becomes greenish, and upon acidifying with hydrochloric acid the colouring- 

 matter may be extracted by ether, forming a purple solution. The experiment was 

 repeated on the purest pukateine recrystallised from soda solution. The amount of 

 colouring-matter formed is too small to examine. 



100 grams boiling alcohol dissolve 4-17 grams pukateine. 



