592  Decomposition  of  Quinine  Bisulphate.     {Ag-  J' 
December,  19 17. 
THE  DECOMPOSITION  OF  QUININE  BISULPHATE.1 
By  Bernard  F.  Howard,  F.I.C.,  and  Oliver  Chick. 
The  tendency  to  utilize  the  more  soluble  salts  of  quinine  in 
the  place  of  the  sulphate,  both  for  administration  and  also  for  hypo- 
dermic injection,  was  becoming  very  marked  before  the  war.  Since 
1914,  however,  the  increase  in  the  use  of  the  bisulphate,  hydro- 
chloride, and  bihydrochloride  has  been  phenomenal,  and  the  time 
is  obviously  not  very  far  distant  when  "  quinine  "  will  cease  to  be 
a  synonym  in  pharmacy  for  the  sulphate,  and  this  will  gradually 
fade  into  obscurity  as  one  of  the  less  useful  salts.  The  authors  of 
the  present  note  wish  to  point  out  a  certain  property,  noticeable  in 
the  bisulphate,  but  not  in  the  sulphate,  hydrochloride,  or  bihydro- 
chloride which,  owing  to  the  increase  in  the  popularity  of  the 
former,  is  of  considerable  interest  to  pharmacists  and  medical  prac- 
titioners at  the  present  time,  namely  the  ease  with  which  quinine  as 
bisulphate  is  converted  into  quinicine,  an  alkaloid  possessing  a  thera- 
peutic value  undoubltedly  differing  from  that  of  quinine,  and  accord- 
ing to  several  authorities,  actually  harmful,  the  name  quinotoxin 
having  been  used  as  a  synonym  for  quinicine.  This  property  of 
quinine  bisulphate  is  no  new  phenomenon.  Pasteur,  in  1853  (PJ., 
p.  373,  and  Compt.  Rend.,  XXXVII,  p.  162),  described  the  prepara- 
tion of  quinicine  by  heating  quinine  sulphate  with  water  and  a  little 
sulphuric  acid  to  120 — 1300  C,  when  the  conversion  of  the  quinine 
into  quinicine  was  complete.  David  Howard  {PJ.,  1872,  p.  765) 
proved  that  the  quinicine  obtained  by  Pasteur  was  identical  with  the 
alkaloid  that  can  be  isolated  from  amorphous  quinoidine.  Hesse 
(Annalen  der  Pharm.  1875,  vol.  178,  p.  244)  by  heating  quinine  bi- 
sulphate alone  to  135 0  C.  completely  converted  it  into  quinicine. 
Turning  to  the  Pharmacopoeias,  we  find  either  a  complete  silence  or 
a  considerable  divergence  of  opinion  as  to  the  "  dangerous  tem- 
perature "  for  the  salt.  "  Codex  Francais,  1908,"  mentions  that  it 
melts  at  8o°  C.  in  its  water  of  crystallization,  and  that  if  exsiccated 
it  melts  at  1350,  being  converted  into  quinicine.  "  U.  S.  Pharm. 
IX,"  1  (and  the  "Pharm.  Ned.")  gives  no  melting  point,  and  no 
mention  of  decomposition.    "  Pharm.  Jap.  Ill "  gives  melting  point 
1  Paper  accepted  by  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference  for  publica- 
tion in  the  Year-Book  1917,  and  reprinted  from  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal 
and  Pharmacist. 
