Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
August,  1884.  J 
Glucoside  of  Nux  Vomica. 
433 
reaction  of  the  substance  is  found  in  its  behavior  with  concentrated 
sulphuric  acid.  A  very  small  quantity  of  loganin,  when  gently 
warmed  with  a  few  drops  of  concentrated  sulphuric  acid,  yields  a  fine 
red  color,  which,  on  standing,  develops  into  a  deep  purple.  An 
aqueous  solution  of  loganin  does  not  reduce  Fehling's  solution.  When 
boiled  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid  the  glucoside  is  resolved  into  a  glucose 
(reducing  Fehling's  solution)  and  a  body  which  we  propose  to  call 
loganetin.  This  substance,  like  loganin,  gives  the  characteristic  reac- 
tion with  sulphuric  acid  although  the  purple  color  does  not  develop  so 
rapidly.  Loganetin  is  soluble  in  water  and  alcohol,  less  soluble  in 
ether  and  chloroform.  The  aqueous  solution  of  loganetin  is  not 
precipitated  by  silver  nitrate  or  lead  acetate,  nor  colored  by  ferric 
chloride.  The  substance  gives  no  color  when  acted  on  by  nitric  acid. 
We  are  now  engaged  in  a  further  study  of  loganetin. 
From  the  amount  of  loganin  obtained  from  the  pulp  on  which  we 
worked  it  appears  to  exist  to  the  extent  of  from  4  to  5  per  cent,  in  the 
dried  material. 
We  now  proceeded  to  examine  the  seeds  of  Strychnos  Nux-vomica 
for  the  same  glucoside,  although  its  occurrence  has  never  been  noticed 
by  other  observers,  nor  does  any  mention  of  such  a  constituent  appear 
in  the  original  analysis  of  Pelletier  and  Caventou.  About  one  hundred 
grains  of  the  finely  powdered  seeds  of  Strychnos  Nux-vomica  were  exhaus- 
ted with  boiling  aleohol.  The  alcoholic  solution  was  treated  with  tannin 
to  precipitate  alkaloid,  and  the  excess  of  tannin  was  removed,  together 
with  coloring  matter,  by  evaporating  to  dryness  with  lead  hydrate. 
The  dry  residue  was  exhausted  with  absolute  alcohol ;  this  when 
evaporated  left  a  small  quantity  of  residue  giving  the  characteristic 
purple  color  which  loganin  forms  with  sulphuric  acid.  The  aqueous 
solution  of  the  residue  did  not  reduce  Fehling's  solution  until  it  had 
been  boiled  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid.  In  a  second  experiment  the 
alcoholic  solution  of  the  seeds  was  evaporated  to  dryness,  extracted  with 
water,  and  the  aqueous  solution  precipitated  by  lead  oxyacetate. 
From  the  filtered  liquid  the  alkaloid  was  nearly  entirely  precipitated 
by  tannin.  The  solution  after  filtering  was  evaporated  to  dryness  and 
extracted  with  chloroform.  When  the  chloroform  was  evaporated, 
a  residue  was  obtained  which  gave  the  reaction  for  loganin  with 
sulphuric  acid  very  distinctly.  We  have  since  found  that  the  presence 
of  loganin  may  be  detected  with  great  readiness  in  the  alcoholic  extract 
28 
