Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
June,  19 17. 
Some  Constituents  of  Jambul. 
259 
Our  sample  of  Jambul  seed,  which  was  badly  worm  eaten,  was 
'received  from  Bombay.  It  was  picked  over  and  91  pounds  were 
rejected  from  a  200-pound  shipment.  The  material  contained  8.0 
per  cent,  moisture  and  2.9  per  cent.  ash.  Ligroin  extracted  1.2  per 
cent.,  ether,  1.3  per  cent.,  and  alcohol  16. 1  per  cent.  The  residue 
insoluble  in  alcohol  had  the  following  composition:  crude  fiber,  2.3 
per  cent.;  pentosans,  2.1  per  cent.;  protein,  6.3  per  cent.;  starch, 
41.4  per  cent. ;  dextrin,  2.1  per  cent.  The  alcohol  extract  showed 
the  presence  of  0.3  per  cent,  sucrose  and  3.3  per  cent,  reducing 
sugars.    Tannin  amounted  to  6.0  per  cent. 
The  products  present  in  the  alcoholic  percolate,  and  soluble  in 
water,  besides  the  sugars  and  tannin,  are  ellagic  and  gallic  acids. 
The  study  of  the  resin  gave,  in  general,  the  same  results  as  those 
reported  by  Power  and  Callan,  i.  e.}  from  the  ligroin  extract,  oleic, 
linoleic,  palmitic  and  stearic  acids  ;  from  the  ethyl  acetate  and  al- 
coholic extracts,  chiefly  ellagic  acid.  YVe  are,  however,  able  to  de- 
scribe more  fully  the  presence  in  the  ligroin  extract  of  myricyl  al- 
cohol, of  a  hydrocarbon  very  probably  hentriacontane,  and  of  a 
phytosterol,  C27H460,  melting  at  135-135 -5°  that  formed  an  acetate, 
melting  at  119-120°.  The  ether  extract  as  well  as  the  chloroform 
extract  yielded  in  addition  a  phytosterolin,  C33H5606,  which  Ave  have 
described  in  detail. 
.  YVe  endeavored  to  repeat  Stephenson's  work  which  would  indi- 
cate the  presence  of  something  in  Jambul  that  would  retard  dia- 
static  hydrolysis.  In  using  the  iodine  method  of  Sherman,  Kendall 
and  Clark,9  it  was  found  to  be  impossible  to  read  the  end  points  of 
a  diastatic  hydrolysis  because  the  presence  of  gallic  acid  in  the  ex- 
tract decolorized  the  iodine  solution.  In  the  same  way  the  reduc- 
ing action  of  a  Jambul  extract  is  sufficiently  great  to  render  inac- 
curate their  excellent  gravimetric  method  employed  for  finding  the 
activity  of  pancreatin. 
{A)  Proximate  Analysis. — A  sample  of  the  air-dried  seed 
after  grinding  and  sieving  was  quantitatively  extracted  with  various 
solvents,  with  the  following  results : 
EXPERIMENTAL. 
Extract 
Percent. 
Ligroin  (35-55°) 
Volatile  ether  extract 
Ether  
Alcoholic   
1-3 
16.1 
0.2 
1.2 
9  American  Chemical  Journal,  32,  1073  (1910). 
