THE SEPARATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF SMALL QUANTI- 

 TIES OF COCAIN. 



By H. C. FULLER. 



It is well known that the separation and positive identification of 

 cocain is very difficult even when it is present in large quantities, 

 and when there is only a small amount present the separation is 

 often claimed to be practically impossible. The work here recorded, 

 however, demonstrates that these claims are unfounded. 



Contrary to the statements appearing from time to time in the 

 literature of the subject, cocain has no characteristic color reactions 

 on which any reliance may be placed, and if the amount present is 

 sufficient to respond to certain reactions which have been described 

 it could be more positively identified by its melting point and by 

 other well-known properties; with a small quantity the color reac- 

 tions are not given and in the presence of other alkaloids the tests 

 would have little or no significance. 



This paper deals entirely with the separation of small quantities 

 of cocain, and the procedures described have been evolved after 

 considerable experimentation with various methods recommended 

 in the literature for the separation of alkaloids and with others as yet 

 unpublished. The writer has been called upon to examine a number 

 of medicinal products and medicated beverages supposed to contain 

 cocain, and especially in the latter the amount of alkaloidal substance 

 has been comparatively small. It has been interesting to note that 

 many chemists have reported that no cocain was found in some of 

 these products, even after claiming to have made a careful examina- 

 tion of the same, while subsequent testing proved beyond a doubt 

 that marked quantities were present. It was clearly evident that 

 these workers were not acquainted with the procedure for effecting a 

 proper separation. 



Cocain and the other alkaloids of the coca leaf are readily hydro- 

 lyzed on heating; consequently it is advisable to keep the solutions 

 at room temperature during the manipulation, and if it is necessary 

 to heat at any stage of the process the solutions or residues should 

 be cooled again as soon as possible. If the substance under examina- 

 tion is a solid it should be dissolved in water, if possible, or in normal 

 sulphuric acid : if it contains much drug material and is not readily 

 dissolved m water an extraction with alcohol containing a small 

 quantity of ammonium hydroxid should be resorted to, water added 

 to the mixture, and the bulk of the alcohol subsequently evaporated. 

 Liquid products, such as sirups, need no preliminary treatment 

 unless they are very thick or in the form of emulsion; in the former 



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