23 
THE RELATIVE ACTIVITY OF ORTHO-DIOXY-PHENYL-ETHANOL-METHYL- 
AMIN (NATURAL L- AND SYNTHETIC DL- ADRENALIN), OF ORTHO- 
DIOXY-PHENYL-ETHANOL-AMIN (“ARTERENOL”), AND ETHYL-AMINO- 
DIOXY-ACETO-PHENON ( “HOMORENON”) AS DETERMINED BY BLOOD 
PRESSURE. 
Soon after synthetic dl-adrenalin was placed upon the market 
samples of it were submitted to the Division of Pharmacology of the 
Hygienic Laboratory for comparison with the natural 1-base. A few 
preliminary tests showed the synthetic substance to be only one- 
half to two-thirds as active as the natural. Upon noting this, it was 
decided to make a study of certain catechol derivatives and also to 
examine into the best methods for standardizing them. Of the 
several methods proposed it was found that on the whole that of 
blood pressure, of the pupil, and of subcutaneous injections was 
most satisfactory. The pupil method as used by Meltzer and by 
Ehrmann is adequate for qualitative but not for quantitative testing. 
Hence this method was changed to eliminate as far as possible the 
most serious errors that could arise, which has now made the pupil 
method, though not quite so delicate, almost as reliable as that of 
blood pressure. Likewise the toxicity data of adrenalin literature, 
though in a general way supplementing the qualitative and quanti- 
tative results of their period, are, on the whole, unsatisfactory, being 
unsuited for comparison with more recent experiments with pure 
compounds. For this reason a series of experiments was carried on 
under conditions whereby the members of one series could be com- 
pared with those of another. 
A glance over the literature on adrenalin reveals at once how prom- 
inent a place the blood-pressure method occupies in testing this drug 
both in a qualitative and quantitative manner, and it would seem 
to be the most consistent test for catechol derivatives, these sub- 
stances being primarily vaso-constrictors. Because of this the rela- 
tive pharmacological action of the compounds already mentioned 
will first be considered in terms of rise of blood pressure and all sub- 
sequent results by other methods will be referred to this as a standard. 
One of the first difficulties encountered was the variation in the 
activity of adrenalin found upon the market. In order to eliminate 
this factor the Hygienic Laboratory purchased direct from a manu- 
facturing firm 19.4 grams of natural 1-adrenalin base. This they 
claimed to contain 15 grams of pure adrenalin, their basis for calcu- 
lation being that incineration left 22.6 per cent ash, which, as will be 
seen later, was erroneously inferred to represent all the impurities 
present. To make sure of a good preparation, however, the sample 
was repurified by Taveau, chemist in the Division of Pharmacology, 
who has done so much valuable work in synthesizing compounds 
of tliis character both in Abel’s laboratory and in the Division 
