176 The Philippine Journal of Science im 



was due to the presence of a compound similar to the alkaloid 

 found in T. asthmatica. 



CHEMICAL EXAMINATION OF TYLOPHORA BREVIPES 



Specimens of the fresh leaves and roots were used for the 

 analyses. 



A petroleum ether exhaustion of the dried roots gave a slight 

 amount of volatile aromatic oil and no traces of alkaloids. When 

 separated from the wax and other extracted matter by steam 

 distillation, the yield of yellow oil was slightly over 0.10 per cent. 

 The residual plant materials were extracted with a chloroform- 

 alcohol mixture. The coloring matter and resinous substances 

 were precipitated with the chloroform on the dilution of the 

 mixture with water acidulated with hydrochloric acid, while the 

 separated alcoholic solution was concentrated to a syrup, again 

 extracted with alcohol, then concentrated, and this concentrate 

 extracted with water. The final orange-colored aqueous solution 

 reacted positively for alkaloids. Two cubic centimeters of this 

 solution given intraperitoneally to a guinea pig of 420 grams' 

 weight caused death within two and one-half hours. Vacuum 

 evaporation and purification through alcohol gives a small yield 

 of the alkaloid in the form of acicular crystals often grouped 

 and radiating (Plate I, fig. 1). Administered to guinea pigs, 

 0.10 gram of the colorless crystals produced spasms and symp- 

 toms of vomiting. An acid water extract of part of the original 

 ground plant material- clarified by the neutral lead acetate method 

 and concentrated gave identical crystals from an alcoholic ex- 

 traction of the concentrate. Concentrated sulphuric acid gives 

 a red color, while nitric acid gives a magenta red color with this 

 compound. The crystals have a peculiar, somewhat acrid 22 and 

 bitter taste and are soluble in water and in alcohol. The quantity 

 separated was insufficient for quantitative chemical analysis. 



In 1890 Hooper, working on Tylophora asthmatica, isolated an 

 alkaloid which he termed "tylophorine." The presence of such 

 a compound in the Asclepiadacese has been noticed by several 

 investigators, notably by Broughton, 23 of Ootacamund, in 1872, 

 when he obtained a small quantity of crystals insufficient for 

 analysis. Extracts from the leaves of Tylophora brevipes con- 

 tain an alkaloid reacting like that found in the bark. 



The work done by us on Tylophora brevipes shows the presence 



" Fluckiger, F. A., and Hanbury, D., Pharmacographia. A History of 

 the Principal Drugs of Vegetable Origin. Macmillan & Co., London. 2d. ed. 

 (1879), 427. 



23 Fluckiger and Hanbury, loc. cit. 



