44 
Coca  Bases. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1888. 
last  operation  is  a  yellowish  oily  substance  of  peculiar  ocl or,  somewhat 
suggestive  of  that  of  chinoline ;  it  has  a  strong  alkaline  reaction  upon 
red  litmus  paper,  does  not  alter  phenolphthalein,  has  a  slight  burning 
taste,  dissolves  readily  in  ether,  chloroform,  or  alcohol,  but  little  in 
water  or  caustic  soda  solution,  and  forms  a  crystallizable  salt  with 
hydrochloric  acid.  A  water  solution  of  the  -hydrochlorate  becomes 
milky  on  addition  of  caustic  soda,  owing  to  the  separation  of  the  base 
in  minute  oily  globules  which  aggregate  after  a  time.  The  base  forms 
with  oxalic  acid  a  salt  crystallizing  in  small  needles.  The  platinum 
salt  is  also  crystallizable. 
The  fluorescence  of  solutions  of  hygrine  in  dilute  acid  is  a  marked 
character,  but  it  becomes  apparent  only  on  dilution  with  water,  and  is 
not  recognizable  when  the  solutions  are  concentrated.  The  fluores- 
cence is  also  destroyed  by  other  substances,  such,  for  instance,  as 
sodium  chloride. 
Hygrine  volatilizes  with  water  vapor,  and  at  a  higher  temperature 
it  may  be  distilled  alone.  The  quantity  at  my  disposal  was  too  small 
to  admit  of  a  determination  of  the  precise  boiling  point.  To  ascer- 
tain the  composition  of  the  base  the  platinum  salt  was  analyzed  and 
found  to  give — 
Calcu- 
lated. 
Pt   24-51       25-02       24-25       2-25       24-18  24-71 
C   —         36.59        —         —        36-80  36-59 
H   —  4-05        —         —  3-94  3-55 
Water  of  crystallization..    4-73        4-51         4-35       5-15       —  4-57 
These  data  lead  to  the  formula  (CioHi3N)oPtC]6Ho+2H20,  and 
show  that  hygrine  is  a  homologue  of  chinoline,  C^H-X,  having 
the  same  composition  as  tetrahirolene  of  Greville  Williams,  but 
whether  or  uot  it  be  identical  with  that  substance  must  be  left  for 
further  inquiry  to  determine. 
Wohler  and  Lossen  state  that  the  substance  to  which  they  gave  the 
name  of  hygrine  had  a  distinct  smell  of  trimethylamine,  and  several 
other  observers  have  repeatedly  remarked  the  odor  of  that  base  in  the 
preparation  of  cocaine.  It  is  therefore  very  possible  that  hygrine 
may  be  really  trimethylchinoline,  and  that  this  base  is  convertible 
under  certain  conditions  into  trimethylamine  and  a  non-nitrogenous 
substance,  as  is  the  case  for  example  with  dimethylpiperidine  methyl- 
hydroxide.  This,  however,  is  only  a  speculation  that  must  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  test  of  experiment. 
