Am.  Jour.  Pharm, ) 
Nov.,  1885.  J 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
557 
GLEANINGS  IN  MATERIA  MEDICA. 
By  the  Editor. 
The  sugar  of  senna  leaves  was  isolated  by  Kiibly  in  1865,  and  named 
cathartomannit,  Alfred  Seidel  has  further  examined  this  substance  for 
which  he  proposes  the  nd^mQsennit  and  published  his  results  in  an  inaugural 
essay,  Dorpat,  1884.  The  most  satisfactory  process  for  preparing  this 
sugar  was  by  concentrating  in  vacuo  the  aqueous  infusion  of  the  leaves, 
precipitating  mucilage  and  salts  from  the  syrupy  liquid  by  two  volumes 
of  strong  alcohol,  filtering,  distilling  ofP  the  alcohol,  diluting  the  residue 
with  water,  digesting  for  24  hours  with  oxide  of  lead,  again  evaporating 
in  vacuo  to  a  syrupy  consistence,  crystallizing  upon  flat  plates  over 
burned  lime,  which  requires  4  or  5  weeks,  and  purifying  by  recrystal- 
lization  from  methyl  alcohol  and  washing  Avith  absolute  alcohol.  Thus 
prepared  sennit  has  the  composition  C(3Hj205  and  forms  colorless  micrcv 
scopic  hemiedric  crystals  of  the  rhombic  system,  mostly  sphenoids  witli 
curved  sides.  It  has  a  very  sweet  taste,  melts  at  183°C.  (corrected 
185*6°),  and  is  soluble  at  ordinary  temperature  (about  20°C.)  in  If 
parts  water,  450  absolute  alcohol,  48  alcohol  of  90  per  cent.,  82  methyl 
alcohol,  and  about  10,500  parts  of  absolute  ether.  It  is  dextrogyrate, 
unfermentable,  prevents  the  precipitation  of  copper  and  iron  salts  by 
alkalies,  and  does  not  reduce  Fehling's  solution  (also  not  after  boiling 
with  acid),  silver  nitrate,  or  solutions  of  gold  or  platinum.  By  treat- 
ment with  diluted  nitric  acid,  it  yields  oxalic  acid,  but  no  mucic  acid. 
On  evaporating  sennit  with  an  excess  of  diluted  nitric  acid,  a  snow- 
white  mass  is  left  which  dissolves  with  an  intense  yellow  or  yellow- 
red  color  in  ammonia,  and  with  a  yellow  color  in  sodium  acetate ;  on 
the  addition  to  the  aramoniacal  solution  of  a  drop  of  barium  chloride 
solution,  a  reddish  brown  precipitate  is  produced,  the  liquid  gradually 
becomes  rose-colored  and  on  spontaneous  evaporation  leaves  a  raspberry- 
red  residue.  Similar  colorations  are  produced  by  strontium  chloride, 
but  the  residue  is  in  transmitted  light  rose-colored,  while  in  reflected 
light  it  is  green  and  has  a  metallic  lustre.  These  characteristic  color 
reactions  are  at  once  produced  in  the  solution  in  sodium  acetate  men- 
tioned above.  Inosit,  quercit  and  probably  pinit,  give  a  similar  reac- 
tion, but  not  mannit,  dulcit,  glucose  or  saccharose.  Compounds  with 
calcium,  barium  and  lead  were  prepared,  also  an  acetyl  compound, 
showing  sennit  to  be  a  pentatomic  alcohol. 
