Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1921. 
i 
Glycyrrhizin  in  Licorice  Root. 
47S 
Glycyrrhizic  Acid  Determination  in  Licorice  Root. 
In  the  introduction  to  this  work  I  made  mention  of  the  numerous 
attempts  to  extract  the  glycyrrhizic  acid  from  licorice  root.  There, 
I  gave  a  short  description  of  such  proposals.  Those  researches  are 
only  qualitative  in  character,  and  make  no  claim  of  giving  quanti- 
tative results.  None  of  them  are  suitable  for  a  glycyrrhizin  deter- 
mination, even  after  changing  the  directions.  The  only  methods 
that  need  be  mentioned  here,  are  those  of  Houseman  and  Erikson. 
This  small  number  appears,  at  first  sight,  surprising,  when  compared 
with  the  27  methods  available  to  me  for  glycyrrhizin  determination 
in  licorice  extract.  If  one  remembers,  however,  that  the  glycyr- 
rhizin content  in  the  root  is  definite  and  cannot  be  diminished  by  any 
outside  influence,  such  as  adulteration. 
[Translator's  Note. — The  powdered  root  can  surely  be  adul- 
terated] and  then  remembers,  on  the  other  hand,  that  licorice  extract 
is  very  largely  adulterated,  then  this  difference  does  not  appear  so 
surprising.  Then  also  the  experimental  difficulties  in  the  case  of 
licorice  root  are  still  more  unfavorable  than  in  the  case  of  licorice 
extract  and  this  has  deterred  workers  from  being  more  active  with 
this  question. 
In  the  literature,  I  find,  in  several  places,  statements  about  the 
glycyrrhizin  content  of  the  root : 
Tschirch-Belander   3.0  per  cent. 
Sestini    3.3    "  " 
Cederberg    3.0    "  " 
With  the  exception  of  Erikson  and  Houseman,  none  of  them 
state  how  they  arrive  at  these  values.  They  appear  to  be  more  or 
less  a  matter  of  estimating.  In  earlier  publications  Tschirch  (Archiv 
der  Pharmazie,  Vol.  245)  states  that  estimates  over  3  per  cent,  are 
much  too  high,  yet  in  his  Handbook  he  himself  gives  5.3-7  per  cent. 
The  values  which  Houseman  gives,  reaching  as  high  as  13.24,  must 
of  themselves  arouse  mistrust. 
[Translator's  Note.— This  high  value  was  only  in  one  sample 
out  of  ten.   The  figure  given  was  correct.    (P.  A.  H.)] 
Moller-Fliickiger  .  . 
Realenzyklopadie  .  . 
Tschirch,  Handbuch 
Houseman   
5.3-7  per  cent 
5.9-13.24  per  cent. 
