xii. a. 4 Brill and Wells: Medicinal Plants, II 193 



Zwenger 15 claims that it melts at 160° C. with loss of water, 

 and if heated over the melting point and then cooled, it crys- 

 tallizes again free from its water of crystallization. 



Schitf 4U reports having had aesculin with 1.5 and with 2 

 molecules of water of crystallization and that heating it above 

 160- C. gives a compound which melts at 204° to 205° C. Heated 

 to 230" C, the compound breaks down into sesculetin. Accord- 

 ing to Schiff 47 aesculin loses part of its water of crystallization 

 at 130° C. and the remaining 1.5 molecules at 160° to 165° C. 



The melting point is listed in Beilstein as 165° C. Melting 

 points made by us on Kahlbaum's sesculin show sesculin to melt 

 at 165° C, but immediately to solidify and then to melt at 200° 

 to 205° C. with decomposition. In some cases where the heating 

 was rapid no melting resulted at 165° C, only a slight softening 

 was noticeable, and the only melting point observed in such 

 cases was the higher one. 



The compound obtained from the Philippine Hymenodictyon 

 excelsum by the various methods gives melting points varying 

 from 195° to 205° C. No melting point or softening was ob- 

 served at 165° C. A mixture of this compound with aesculin 

 (Kahlbaum) melted at 169° C. and when heated to a higher 

 temperature did not again solidify and then melt in the vicinity 

 of 200° C, as does pure sesculin. It is much less soluble in 

 water than is sesculin. It is not hydrolyzed to sesculetin by 

 dilute hydrochloric or sulphuric acid as is sesculin. It is pre- 

 cipitated by neutral lead acetate, 48 while sesculin is not. 



The compound was recovered from the lead precipitate by 

 treatment with hydrogen sulphide. The melting point was sharp 

 at 203° C. This is the original compound. No separation had 

 taken place as we thought might be accomplished were the 

 substance a mixture of sesculin and sesculetin, which seemed pos- 

 sible from the reported work of Broughton 40 on the hymenodic- 

 tyons. The compound is apparently a definite compound and 

 not a mixture. It has properties which distinguish it from 

 sesculin and from sesculetin, which is formed from sesculin by 

 hydrolysis with dilute acids or emulsin. 



"Zwenger, C, Ann. d. Chem. (Liebig) (1854), 90, 65. 



48 Schiff, H., Ber. d. deutsch. chem. Gesell. (1881), 14, 303. 



47 Schiff, H., ibid. (180), 13, 1952. 



"' Our clarification of the extract from the plant by means of neutral 

 lead acetate did not precipitate the compound, as only enough acetate was 

 added to clarify the solution. 



43 Dymock, W., The Vegetable Materia Medica of Western India. 2d ed. 

 (1885), 404. 



