THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
DECEMBER,  1894. 
ON  SOME  OF  THE  TESTS  FOR  QUININE. 
By  Theodore  G.  Worm^y,  M.D. 
The  recognition  of  quinine  by  chemical  tests,  when  present  in 
notable  quantity,  is  usually  a  matter  of  great  ease.  Under  certain 
conditions,  however,  as  in  its  extraction  from  complex  organic  mix- 
tures or  from  the  tissues,  it  may  be  recovered  only  in  minute  quan- 
tity, and  its  presence  may  then  not  be  so  readily  determined,  at 
least  by  purely  chemical  tests.  Among  the  strictly  chemical  tests 
for  this  substance,  the  thalleioquin  reaction  as  it  is  termed,  is  one  of 
the  most  characteristic,  and  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  most  delicate. 
This  test,  however,  requires  caution  in  its  application,  since  it  may 
give  a  negative  result  even  in  the  presence  of  quinine  in  consider- 
able quantity. 
I.     THALLEIOQUIN  TEST. 
This  test  was  first  proposed  by  Prof.  M.  Andre,  of  Mentz,  in  1835,1 
and  consists  in  the  production  of  a  bright  emerald  green  coloration 
when  a  solution  of  a  salt  of  quinine  is  treated  with  chlorine  water, 
followed  by  the  addition  of  a  little  aqua  ammonia.  M.  Andre 
observed  that  this  order  of  the  application  of  the  reagents  was 
necessary  for  the  production  of  the  green  color. 
R.  Brands,  in  1839,2  more  fully  examined  this  reaction  and  found 
that  the  production  of  the  green  color  was  dependent  upon  the 
presence  of  the  substances  employed  in  certain  proportions,  other- 
wise it  did  not  appear.     He  found  that  the  chlorine  caused  a 
1  See  this  Journal,  viii,  208. 
3  See  Ibid.,  xi,  36. 
(56i) 
