Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1884. 
Bark  of  Bois  Piquant. 
579 
BARK  OF  "  BOIS  PIQUANT." 
By  E.  Heckel  and  F.  Schlagdenhauffen. 
The  bark  examined  was  the  variety  peculiar  to  Guiana,  and  agreed 
exactly  with  Gui bout's  description  of  Zanthoxylum  caribceum.  Its 
anatomical  structure  is  entirely  different  from  that  of  angustura  bark, 
which  it  resembles  in  external  appearance.  When  macerated  with 
water,  it  yields  a  bitter,  slightly  acid,  yellow  solution,  which  turns 
brown  with  ferric  chloride,  and  yields  an  abundant  yellow  precipitate 
with  mercuric  chloride,  stannous  chloride,  tannin,  picric  acid,  double 
iodides,  or  phosphomolybdic  acid,  but  gives  only  a  slight  turbidity 
with  lead  acetate.  Nitric  acid  produces  a  deep  red  color.  When  ex- 
tracted with  light  petroleum,  the  bark  yields  a  considerable  quantity 
of  chlorophyll,  fat,  and  wax,  together  with  a  crystalline  substance 
which  can  also  be  extracted  by  alcohol.  This  substance  forms  color- 
less needles  of  the  composition  012H24O,  which  melt  at  285°,  and  gives 
no  coloration  with  nitric,  sulphuric,  or  hydrochloric  acid. 
If  the  alcoholic  extract,  after  separation  of  these  crystals,  is  diluted 
with  water,  mixed  with  lime,  evaporated  to  dryness,  and  the  residue 
extracted  with  boiling  alcohol,  a  second  crystalline  substance  is  ob- 
tained which  resembles  the  vegetable  alkaloids  in  its  general  proper- 
ties. It  exists  in  the  bark  only  in  very  small  quantities.  With  nitric 
acid,  it  gives  a  deep-red  coloration,  but  if  the  liquid  is  evaporated  on 
a  water-bath  and  mixed  with  stannous  chloride,  no  violet  color  is  pro- 
duced. Sulphuric  and  hydrochloric  acid  have  no  action  on  it,  but 
sulphuric  acid  and  potassium  dichromate,  manganese  dioxide,  or  lead 
dioxide,  produce  a  violet  coloration  similar  to  that  produced  by  strych- 
nine mixed  with  a  little  selenium.  An  alcoholic  solution  of  bromine 
also  produces  a  deep  blue  coloration  which  persists  for  a  long  time. 
Five  mgrms.  of  this  alkaloid  injected  in  aqueous  solution  beneath  the 
skin  of  a  frog,  produce  rapid  general  paralysis,*fol lowed  by  death  in 
about  half  an  hour,  and  similar  effects  are  observed  with  rabbits  and 
guinea-pigs. 
A  nitrogenous  resinous  substance,  soluble  in  water,  was  also  obtained 
from  the  bark.  It  has  the  general  properties  of  the  alkaloids,  and  in 
its  physiological  action  very  closely  resembles  the  crystalline  alkaloid 
just  described,  although  it  differs  from  it  in  physical  properties.  None 
of  the  so-called  xanthopicrite  could  be  obtained  from  the  bark. — 
Compt  rend.,  98,  996-998;  Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  August,  1884,  p.  848. 
