Du Mez—The Galenical Oleoresins. 
1027 
Chemistry of the Drug and Oleoresin. 
Tabulation of Constituents. 
The reported analyses 1 of the various varieties of red peppers 
show the constituents of pharmaceutical interest to be as fol¬ 
lows: fixed oil, volatile oil, fatty acids, capsaicin, capsicine, 
resin, mudilage, starch, coloring matter and inorganic sub¬ 
stances. Most of these substances have been identified in the 
oleoresin prepared by extracting the fruits with ether. They 
are the following: 
Fatty Oil 
Capsaicin 
Coloring Matter 
Fatty Acids 
Capsicine 
Ash 
Volatile Oil 
Eesin 
Occurrence and Description of Individual Constituents. 
Fatty Oil. Work on the oil of capsicum has practically been 
limited to that obtained from the variety official in most of the 
continental pharmacopoeias, namely: Capsicum annum L. The 
properties of the oil of Capsicum fastigiatum Bl. as observed by 
Goetz appears to indicate that it is very likely identical with 
the former. 2 The oil as obtained from the seeds of Capsicum 
annum Bl. 3 is a yellowish brown, mobile liquid, specific gravity 
15.5°C 0.91095; iodine value (Huebls) 119.5; saponification 
value (Koettsdorffer) 187.2. It is composed of the glyceryl 
esters of oleic, palmitic and stearic acids. 
The oil of capsicum is located in the seeds and is variously 
stated to comprise from 20 4 to 24.06 5 per cent, of these organs 
in Capsicum annum. The yield as computed by Goetz for the 
entire fruit of Capsicum fastigiatum is 8.4 per cent.. The yield 
in the case of Capsicum fructescens does not appear to have been 
determined. 
1 Taylor, Am. Journ. Fharm. (1857), 29, p. 803; Buchheim, Vierteljahrschr. 
f. prakt. Pharm. (1872), 4, p. 507; Proc. A. Ph. A. (1873), 22, p. 106; 
Strohmer, Chem. Centralb. (1884), 55, p. 557; Pabst, Arch. d. Pharm. (1892), 
230, p. 108 ; Tolman and Mitchell, Bull. No. 163, Bur. of Chem., Dep. of Agr. 
(1913), p. 9. 
2 Goetz obtained 15.7 per cent of a yellowish-brown fixed oil from the 
seeds of Capsicum fastigiatum Bl., specific gravity at 25°, 0.919. Goetz, un¬ 
published results. 
3 Buchheim, Z. c.; Pabst, Z. c.; von Bitto, Landwirt. Versuchs-Stat. (1896), 
46, p. 310; Meyer-Essen, Chemiker Ztg. (1903), 27, p. 958. 
4 Meyer-Essen, Z. c. 
6 von Bitto, Z. c. 
