190 
Alkaloids  of  the  Areca  Nut. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1      April,  1889. 
THE  ALKALOIDS  OF  THE  AEECA  NUT  AND  THE 
PHYSIOLOGICAL  ACTION  OF  AHECOLINE. 
The  "  areca  nut "  or  "  betel-nut/' the  seed  of  the  areca  palm  (Areca 
Catechu),  originally  indigenous  in  the  Sunda  Islands,  but  now  culti- 
vated extensively  in  the  warmer  parts  of  India  as  well  as  in  the  Phil- 
ippines, has  become  there  an  important  commercial  article.  In  the 
east,  as  is  known,  it  is  used  as  a  masticatory  together  with  lime  and 
leaves  of  the  betel  pepper,  and  according  to  von  Bibra  the  betel 
chewers  number  100,000,000.  The  areca  nut  is  also  occasionally  used 
in  China  and  India  as  a  vermifuge,  and  successful  results  in  this 
respect  have  procured  its  introduction  into  the  materia  medica  of 
European  countries,  it  being  sometimes  used  in  Germany,  for  instance, 
as  a  remedy  against  tapeworm. 
Up  to  the  present  it  has  not  been  known  to  which  of  the  constitu- 
ents the  areca  nut  owes  its  extensive  use  among  the  Malays  as  an  arti- 
cle of  food,  or  upon  which  constituent  its  action  as  a  vermifuge 
depends.  The  nut  contains  about  15  per  cent,  of  tannin  substance,  14 
per  cent,  of  fat  coloring  matter,  etc.,1  and,  in  addition,  according  to 
Bombelon,2  it  contains  a  liquid  volatile  alkaloid,  the  properties  and 
composition  of  which,  however,  he  had  not  described.  As  it  seemed 
probable  that  the  physiologically  active  constituent  was  to  be  looked 
for  in  this  alkaloid,  Mr.  E.  Jahns  was  induced  to  investigate  the  sub- 
ject more  closely,  and  has  reported  the  results  recently  to  the  German 
Chemical  Society.3 
In  the  preparation  of  the  areca  bases  two  methods  were  adopted, 
which  gave  equally  good  results.  According  to  one  the  powdered 
seeds  were  exhausted  three  times  with  cold  water,  to  which  strong 
sulphuric  acid  had  been  added  in  the  proportion  of  two  grams  to 
each  kilogram  of  the  seeds ;  the  pressed  and  filtered  extracts  were 
evaporated  to  about  the  weight  of  the  raw  material  used,  and  after 
cooling  and  again  filtering  precipitated  with  potassium-bismuth  iodide 
and  sulphuric  acid.  An  excess  of  the  precipitant  had  to  be  avoided, 
since  it  exercises  a  solvent  action  on  the  separated  double  salt.  The 
red  crystalline  precipitate  was  after  some  days  filtered  out,  washed  and 
decomposed  by  boiling  with  barium  carbonate  and  water ;  the  alka- 
loids went  completely  into  solution,  whilst  bismuth  oxyiodide,  color- 
1 '  Pharmacographia,'  2nd.  edit.,  p.  670. 
2  Pharm.  Journ.,  [3],  xvi.,  838. 
3  Berichte,  xxi.,  3404. 
