January 27,1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
6C3 
as an unsafe, or, at least, unsatisfactory therapeutic 
agent. M. Duquesnel’s detailed account of liis search 
for a method of obtaining aconitine and the prepa¬ 
rations of aconite in a more definite and uniform con¬ 
dition, which has already been briefly noticed in 
this Journal,* will, therefore, be welcomed as a 
valuable contribution to the literature of the subiect. 
u 
In this memoir the subject is treated under the fol¬ 
lowing heads:—(1) History; (2) Method of Pre¬ 
paring Crystallized Aconitine; (3) Physical and 
Chemical Properties of Aconitine ; (4) Chemical 
Reactions; (5) Salts of Aconitine; (0) Comparison 
of Different Aconitines; (7) Toxicology; (8) Phar¬ 
maceutical Preparations of Aconite; (9) Selection of 
Hoots. 
Although the possibility of obtaining aconitine in 
a crystalline state has been before demonstrated,— 
especially by Mr. T. B. Groves, of Weymouth, who, 
at the meeting of the Pharmaceutical Conference at 
Nottingham in 1866,f gave a process for its prepa¬ 
ration,—it is still described in the British Pharma¬ 
copoeia, and found in commerce as usually an 
amorphous powder. By slightly modifying and sim¬ 
plifying the processes previously employed, M. Du- 
quesnel has succeeded in obtaining a crystalline 
alkaloid, which he believes to be the veritable active 
principle of the plant, and to which he proposes to 
give the name of crystallized aconitine. This base 
he thinks probably exists in combination with aco- 
nitic acid, which is very abundant in the aconite, 
where, combined also with lime, it forms with ex¬ 
tractive matters, albumen, starch, fatty matters, gum, 
and acetic and malic acids, the constituent prin¬ 
ciples of Aconitum Napellus. 
Preparation of Crystallized Aconitine. 
The root is the part of the plant used by M. Du- 
quesnel, as containing the largest proportion of the 
active principle, and to the selection of suitable 
roots he attaches great importance. The quantities 
and process adopted are as follows 
Hoot of Aconitum Napellus 
. 1000 grams. 
Tartaric acid. 
10 „ 
Rectified Spirit. 
. q. s. 
Bicarbonate of Potash . . . 
. q.s. 
Ether (rectified and w r ashed) . 
. q.s. 
The root reduced to a moderately fine powvler is 
mixed with the tartaric acid, and exhausted by the 
cold .alcohol in three successive macerations of three 
da} r s each, the powder being carefully pressed after 
each maceration. The liquors being mixed are dis¬ 
tilled slowly in a water bath to drive off the alcohol, 
the mixture being kept at as low a temperature, and 
as much sheltered from contact with air, as possible. 
The extract so obtained is cooled and treated with 
distilled water, which precipitates all the resinous 
and fat matters; the aqueous liquor filtered will then 
contain the aconitine in the state of acid tartrate. To 
tills solution w r ashed ether is added several times in 
such a manner as to carry off the colouring matters 
soluble in that menstruum and leave the aconitine 
salt. The tartrate of aconitine is then decomposed by 
slight excess of bicarbonate of potash, and the alkaloid 
thus set free. When the disengagement of carbonic 
acid ceases (indicating that all the tartrate is decom¬ 
posed) it is finally agitated with washed ether, wdiicli 
takes up the aconitine and deposits it afterwords' 
* Pharai. Jourx. 3rd Ser. Vol. II. p. 226. 
f PnA.Kii. Joe ex. 2nd Ser. Vol. VIII. p. 122. 
upon evaporation. When tills evaporation takes 
place in a vessel in the open air, the first crystals 
deposited on the sides of the vessel contain traces of 
colouring matter and are badly formed. These are 
separated by decanting the ethereal solution into 
another vessel, where, upon the addition of about 
one-fourtli of its volume of light petroleum (pe¬ 
troleum ether, sp.’gr. 0'650), it soon deposits the 
aconitine in colourless crystals upon the sides of the 
vessel. 
In order to obtain these crystals perfectly pure, 
they should be dissolved in water, acidulated with 
a little nitric or other acid, and the solution de¬ 
colorized as quickly as possible with w r ashed animal 
charcoal at a temperature of from SCfyC. to 60°. By 
adding to the decolorized and filtered solution bi¬ 
carbonate of potash in slight excess the aconitine is 
again set free, and may be obtained in isolated and 
distinct crystals or crystalline crusts, by treating it 
with ether as before. 
By tliis process the best roots yield from three to 
four per thousand of aconitine. In the avoidance as 
much as possible of the action of heat, the replacing 
of the mineral acids b} r tartaric acid, and the alkalies 
by an alkaline bicarbonate, the process resembles that 
of Stas and that by which M. Vee has isolated phy- 
sostigmatin, but differs sensibly from those hitherto 
employed in the extraction of the alkaloid of the 
aconites. 
Physical and Chemical Properties of Aconitine. 
The crystallized aconitine, pure and colourless, 
appears in regular rhombic tables, or with the sharp 
angles modified somewliat, and having then the as¬ 
pect of hexagons. Sometimes, liow'ever, when pre¬ 
pared from certain varieties of the root, it crystallizes 
in small, short, four-sided prisms, terminated by di- 
liedrous summits; these, however, by successive and 
slow crystallizations,,from a mixture of alcohol and 
ether may be changed to the rhombic form. The 
difference is looked upon by the author as a purely 
physical one; the reactions of the two forms, dis¬ 
tinguished by him as rhombic and prismatic, being 
the same. 
Crystallized aconitine is anhydrous and nearly 
insoluble in water, even at a temperature of 100° C. 
When obtained by precipitation from solutions of its 
salts it is amorphous, pulverulent, white and very 
light. In this state it undergoes no apparent modi¬ 
fication at 100° C., only losing at that temperature, 
and without change of aspect, its w r ater of hydration. 
In the pulverulent state, especially when it has been 
precipitated by ammonia, it is a little more soluble 
in w T ater. 
As the result pf some analyses made in the labo¬ 
ratory of the Ecole de Pharmacie, M. Duquesnel 
states that the crystallized aconitine is a nitro- 
genized alkaloid, composed^as follows :— 
1st Anal. 
2nd Anal. 
Mean. 
C- . . . . 
59967 
60-180 
6010 
H . . . . 
7-347 
7-545 
7-40 
N . . . . 
2-580 
2-692 
2-60 
O (difference) 
29-90 
Corresponding pretty closely to the centesimal pro¬ 
portions required for the formula— 
C h H 40 NO 20 or C. r H, 0 NO 10 . 
The formula of amorphous aconitine, as given by 
Stalilsclimidt, is— 
C 60 H 47 NO 14 or C 30 H 47 N0 7 . 
