586 
Color-  Compounds. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\   December,  1902. 
color  of  the  sulphate,  as  well  as  the  hydrochloride  and  hydriodide, 
was  practically  the  same  as  the  corresponding  salts  of  berberine. 
The  quantity  of  substance  so  obtained,  though  considerable,  was 
but  a  small  percentage  of  that  existing  in  the  drug.  The  remainder 
was  obtained  as  follows:  The  drug  remaining  after  extracting  with 
chloroform  was  exhausted  with  boiling  water,  the  percolate  reduced 
to  small  volume  and  then  treated  with  a  large  excess  of  strong  alco- 
hol. This  removed  a  large  amount  of  extraneous  matter  in  the  form 
of  a  stiff,  pasty  dark-colored  mass.  The  supernatant  alcoholic 
liquid  was  filtered  and  reduced  to  small  volume  in  vacuo.  Upon 
standing,  a  considerable  amount  of  impure  reddish-yellow  crystals 
separated.  A  still  further  quantity  could  be  thrown  out  by  means 
of  nitric  acid  or  potassium  iodide,  but  these  portions  were  rather 
impure  and  required  several  recrystallizations. 
This  color-compound  was  dissolved  in  boiling  water,  filtered  and 
portions  converted  into  the  sulphate,  hydrochloride,  nitrate  and  into 
the  acetone  compound. 
The  salts  of  this  color-compound,  which  behave  like  an  alkaloid, 
crystallize  in  fine  needles  of  different  shades  of  yellow.  They  are 
all  quite  insoluble  in  cold  water.  Hot  water  dissolves  them  easily, 
only  to  throw  them  out  again  in  crystalline  form  upon  cooling. 
Aqueous  solutions  are  turned  blood  -  red  in  color  with  strong 
chlorine  water.  The  solutions  are  very  bitter  and  are  possessed  of 
an  intensely  yellow  color. 
In  color,  taste,  solubilities  and  qualitative  tests  this  color-com- 
pound agrees  with  the  alkaloid  berberine.  Ordinarily,  the  identifi- 
cation would  be  complete  ;  but  since  Gadamer  has  found  colored 
alkaloids  in  the  Papaveraceae,  which  are  very  similar  to  berberine  in 
their  behavior,  it  is  necessary  to  be  able  to  make  the  iridescent 
scales  of  the  acetone  compound  to  be  absolutely  certain  that  we  have 
berberine.  This  was  easily  made  in  quantity  from  each  of  the  four 
salts  mentioned  above  and  then  reconverted  into  the  hydrochloride. 
The  color-compound  of  Stylophorum  diphyllum  before  purifica- 
tion agrees  with  the  description  of  chelidoxanthin  of  Chelidonium 
majus.  It  agrees  with  the  color-compound,  which  was  separated 
from  fresh  plants  grown  for  the  purpose.  Therefore,  the  writer 
believes  that  berberine  should  be  added  to  the  list  of  alkaloids  found 
in  these  two  plants  and  the  name  chelidoxanthin  dropped.  (Read  at 
the  meeting  of  the  A.Ph.A.,  September,  1902). 
School  of  Pharmacy,  University  of  Michigan. 
