ON THE CHEMISTRY OF SOME OF THE LESSER-KNOWN ALKALOIDS. 105 



Report of the Committee on the Chemistry of some of the lesser- 

 known Alkaloids, especially Veratria and Bebeerine ; the Com- 

 mittee consisting of W. Chandler Roberts, F.R.S. (Sec), Dr. C. 

 R. Alder Wright, and Mr. A. P. Luff. 



The work at present completed has led to conclusions very diverse from 

 those arrived at by previous experimenters who have partially examined 

 the alkaloids contained in the seeds of Veratrum Sabaclilla (Asagroea 

 officinalis) ; in consequence, other species of the Veratrum family (such as 

 Veratrum album) are being investigated with a view to finding out how- 

 far the alkaloids therein contained are related to the bases found in V. 

 Sabaclilla. These investigations being at present incomplete, it would be 

 premature to report on them otherwise than in general terms. The same 

 remark applies to Bebeerine ; the experiments with this alkaloid having 

 at present led to little that is definite. 



Amongst other pharmaceutical and chemical researches on the alkaloids 

 of Veratrum Sabadilla may be briefly mentioned those of Pelletier and 

 Caventou, who isolated in 1819 an amorphous alkaloid or alkaloidal 

 mixture fusing at 50° ; and of Couerbe, who, in 1834, obtained three 

 alkaloidal bodies, one of which was amorphous, but yielded a crystalline 

 sulphate ahd hydrochloride ; to this base he applied the term Veratrine. 

 The second base isolated was soluble in water, and crystallisable there- 

 from, and was termed by him Sabadilline ; whilst the third substance was 

 soluble in water, but non-crystallisable ; this was termed by Couerbe 

 Hydrate of Sabadilline. Later on, in 1855, Merck isolated from the 

 amorphous mixture sold under the name of " Yeratria " an alkaloid readily 

 crystallisable from alcohol, but forming salts quite uncrystallisable, the 

 aurochloride excepted. Notwithstanding that this base differed entirely 

 in properties from the Veratrine of Couerbe, Merck applied to it the same 

 name, "Veratrine," and ascribed to it the formula C 3 2H 52 N 2 8 . In 1871 

 Weigelin, working in Dragendorff's laboratory, obtained from V. Sabadilla 

 three alkaloidal substances, one of which was apparently the Veratrine of 

 Merck in an impure state ; whilst the other two were soluble in water, 

 and were termed respectively Sabadilline and Sabatrine. Within the 

 last year or two, Schmidt and Koppen have re-examined the so-called 

 "Veratria" of commerce, and have obtained from it and from Sabadilla 

 seeds direct a crystallisable base, fusing at 205°, and evidently identical 

 with the Veratrine of Merck. To this, however, they assign the formula, 

 C 32 H 50 NO 9 , somewhat different from Merck's formula, especially in the 

 nitrogen . 



On working up a quantity of crushed Sabadilla seeds by percolating 

 with alcohol acidulated with tartaric acid, evaporating to a small bulk, 

 adding water, filtering from resin, and extraction of alkaloids by adding 

 soda and shaking with large bulks of ether, we have obtained an alkaloidal 

 mixture from which, by further operations, there have been separated 

 three distinct alkaloids. As the process employed has been already 

 described at length ('Journal of the Chemical Society,' 1878), it is un- 

 necessary to repeat it here. 



One of these alkaloids melted at 205°-206°, crystallised finely from 

 alcohol, formed a crystallised aurochloride, but no other crystalline salts, 

 and was evidently identical with the Veratrine of Merck. The second did 

 not crystallise itself, but formed a well- crystallised sulphate and hydro- 



