196 THE DUCTLESS GLANDS 



and is used where reference is not made to some particular 

 preparation. 



In the laboratory adrenin may perhaps be prepared most 

 conveniently by Abel's method, that is to say, by extracting 

 chromaphil tissues with 3' 5 per cent, trichloracetic acid in 

 alcohol, filtering, and adding ammonia. Adrenin is precipitated, 

 filtered off, and washed with water, ether, and alcohol. A 

 yield of about 2 per cent, is obtained. A further 1 per cent, 

 can be obtained by extracting the mass a second time with 

 trichloracetic acid. It is recrystallized by dissolving in alcohol 

 with acetic acid and precipitated by ammonia. 



Nagai gives the following method for the synthesis of 

 adrenin : (1) Diacetyl-protocatechuic aldehyde prepared by 

 the reaction of AcCl or Ac.,0 on protocatechuic aldehyde is 

 condensed with nitromethane in the presence of weak inorganic 

 or organic bases ; (2) the resulting diacetyl-dihydroxy 

 phenyl-initroethanol is reduced in the presence of HCHO by 

 means of Zn dust and HO Ac ; (3) the diacetyl- adrenalin so 

 formed is hydrolyzed by HC1, given adrenalin hydrochloride. 



It is a colourless crystalline substance, having a melting 

 point of 211-212 C. It is not easily soluble in cold water, 

 but more readily in hot. It is insoluble in most organic 

 solvents such as alcohol, ether, or chloroform. It is a strong 

 base and is soluble in mineral acids and caustic alkalies, while 

 it is insoluble in carbonates or ammonia. It is not precipitated 

 by alkaloidal reagents like picric acid, tannic acid, sublimate, 

 phospho-tungstic acid, etc. As a phenol it forms water-soluble 

 compounds with fixed caustic alkalies. 



Commercial solution of adrenin chloride is the usual starting- 

 point in making prescriptions. This solution contains one 

 part in a thousand of adrenin chloride dissolved in normal 

 saline solution with about 0'5 per cent, of chloretone. The 

 solution keeps fairly well if air be excluded. 



As it will be more fully stated below (p. 204), adrenin is 

 widely employed as a drug, and numerous preparations have 

 been placed upon the market, and manufacturing druggists 

 have extensively advertised many forms of the pure product. 

 As pointed out by Schultz, the different preparations vary 

 greatly in physiological activity some, even, being worthless. 

 t lii> being due partly to a lack of care in the process of prepara- 

 tion, and partly to the nature of the container and solvent 



