January 6,1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
519 
has ever been made to deodorize our drains and sewers 
although the quantity of sewage to be dealt with and the ! 
effect of disinfectants on known quantities of organic 
matter has been ascertained. It is true that occasionally, 
under the dread of cholera, spasmodic efforts have been 
made in a desultory manner to deodorize drains in the | 
summer time, but the system should be carried out all 
the year round. And it can be effected with greater - 
economy than any other attempts to trifle with the diffi¬ 
culty, and inaugurate systems w T hich have a positive 
tendency to accelerate the mortality of the multitude.— 
Milk Journal. 
THE ALKALOIDS OF OPIUM. 
BY O. IIESSE.* 
In order to obtain the rarer alkaloids, the black mother- 
liquors were taken (as obtained in the Robertson-Gre- 
gory process) from which the hydrochlorides of morphine, 
codeine and pseudomorphine had been separated. This 
liquor was first treated with an equal volume of water 
and precipitated with excess of ammonia ; the clear liquor 
was exhausted with ether, and this again treated in the 
manner described in the Ann. Chem. Pharm. vol. cliii. : 
p. 47. The alkaloids thus obtained can be now separated 
into two parts, the one insoluble, and the other soluble 
in excess of sodium hydrate. The alkaline solution, ' 
treated according to a former method, deposits first a 
Email quantity of lanthopine, the filtrate from which con¬ 
tains neither codeine nor meconidine, for it is not coloured 
on warming with sulphuric acid ; from it the author has 
obtained a small quantity of codamine. The solution is 
precipitated with ammonia, and the hard precipitate dis¬ 
solved in a very small quantity of boiling dilute alcohol. 
White crystals are thereby obtained, from which the j 
laudanine is separated by the action of hydriodic acid, 
with which it forms a difficultly soluble compound. 
Laudanine has the composition C 20 H 25 NO 4 , instead of 
the formula C 20 H 25 N 0 3 , as formerly given; its melting- 
point is 166°. Codamine is found to melt at 126°, instead 
of 121°, and has probably the composition C 20 H 23 N 0 4 . 
The portion insoluble in sodic hydrate, which must j 
contain thebaine and papaverine, is dissolved in acetic 
acid, and the solution is neutralized in presence of 
alcohol, whereupon a crystalline precipitate is formed, , 
consisting of papaverine and narcotine, which can be se¬ 
parated by oxalic acid. The melting-point of narcotine 
is given by the author as 176°, instead of 170°. 
Papaverine, C 21 H 21 N0 4 , when absolutely pure, dis¬ 
solves in small quantities of sulphuric acid without colo¬ 
ration ; generally, however, on warming a crystal of 
papaverine with concentrated sulphuric acid, a dark blue 
colour is produced, but when other crystals are added the 
colour is not increased ; on the addition of water, papa¬ 
verine sulphate is precipitated, as a resinous mass, which 
•after a short time solidifies. No other alkaloid of opium 
gives this reaction ; pseudo-morphine, which is the only 
one that is precipitated from its sulphuric acid solution 
by water, is obtained as a crystalline powder, not a re¬ 
sinous precipitate. Dilute nitric acid converts papave¬ 
rine readily into nitropapaverine, 
C 21 H 20 (NO 2 )NO 4 + ILO, 
which occurs in colourless thin prisms, melting at 163°, 
and becoming yellow on exposure to light. When 
chloride of zinc and impure papaverine hydrochloride 
are allowed to act together for a short time, the im¬ 
purities are decomposed, and a hydrochloride of an alka¬ 
loid is obtained, which agrees in properties with pure 
papaverine hydrochloride. The new alkaloid forms with 
acids very handsome crystalline salts, resembling the 
salts of cryptopine. 
The neutralized acetic acid solution, from which the 
narcotine and papaverine have been separated, contains 
tliebaine , which can be separated as the bitartrate by 
adding powdered tartaric acid. Instead, however, of 
tartaric acid, concentrated hydrochloric acid is added, 
which keeps the thebaine in solution, whereupon crystals 
of cryptopine hydrochloride are formed. From the dark 
coloured liquid still remaining, the author has been able 
to separate three other alkaloids, protopine, laudanosine 
and hydrocotarnine, by processes which will be described 
in another memoir. 
Cryptopine , C 21 H 23 N0 5 , melts at 217°, dissolves easily 
in chloroform, with difficulty in alcohol and is insoluble 
in ether. It is strongly basic, and forms salts which can 
be obtained in crystals ; with hydrochloric acid it forms 
two salts C 21 H 23 N0 5 . II Cl + 6H 2 0, and with 5H 2 0, 
but the author lias not obtained the salt with 2 H Cl, as. 
found by T. and H. Smith. It is precipitated from cold 
neutral solution by hydrochloric acid as a gelatinous 
mass, but from hot solutions prisms are deposited. 
Protopine, C 20 H 19 NO 5 , may be separated easily from 
the former alkaloid ; it forms solid prisms with hydro¬ 
chloric acid. It melts at 202°, and is somewhat difficultly 
soluble in alcohol and insoluble in ether. 
Laudanosine , C 21 H 27 N0 4 , dissolves sparingly in cold, 
but easily in hot benzol; it forms.colourless prisms which 
melt at 89°. It is easily soluble in alcohol and ether, 
and has a basic reaction ; with hydriodic acid it forms a 
very difficultly soluble salt. 
Hydrocotarnine , C 12 H 15 N 0 3 , crystallizes in large co¬ 
lourless prisms, with ^ 1I 2 0 as water of crystallization; 
they melt at 50°, and give up the half-atom of water. It 
volatilizes at 100° with partial decomposition, it dissolves 
easily in ether and alcohol; behaves like narcotine with 
concentrated sulphuric acid. Its reaction is basic, and 
it neutralizes dilute acids, forming salts which are easily 
soluble in water. 
The author appends a valuable table, giving the colo¬ 
rations observed when the various alkaloids are dissolved 
in pure strong sulphuric acid, and in acid containing 
traces of iron. 
Dissolves in Pure Acid. 
In Acid containing Oxide of Iron. 
At 20°. 
At 150°. 
At 20°. 
At 150°. 
Codeine . 
Colourless. 
Dirty green. . 
Blue. 
Dirty green. 
Codamine 
Colourless. 
Dirty red-violet 
Intense green-blue. . 
Deep violet. 
Laudanine . 
Very faint rose-red .... 
Deep red-violet 
Brown-red, similar to 
cobaltic nitrate so¬ 
lution 
At first green, 
then deep 
violet. 
Laudanosine 
Faint rose-red, somewhat 
stronger than laudanine 
Ditto .... 
Ditto. 
Ditto. 
Cryptopine . . 
At first yellow, then violet, 
and finally deep violet 
Dirty green. . 
Deep violet .... 
Dirty green. 
Protopine . . 
At first yellow, then red, and 
finally bluish-red 
Dirty greenish- 
brown 
Ditto. 
Dirty greenish- 
brown. 
* Deutsch. Cliem. Gesck. Ber. iv. 693; from the Journal of the Chemical Society. 
