5S 
Chemistry  of  Ipecacuanha. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I    February,  1901.  , 
tions  in  water  or  alcohol,  but  insoluble  in  ether.  The  aqueous  solu- 
tion gave  a  green  color  with  ferric  salts  and  copious  flocculent  pre- 
cipitates on  the  addition  of  basic  lead  acetate  or  infusion  of  nutgalls. 
It  was,  in  fact,  a  pharmaceutical  preparation  rather  than  a  distinct 
chemical  substance,  and  was  essentially  a  compound  of  the  basic  con- 
stituents of  ipecacuanha  with  a  substance  somewhat  analogous  to 
tannin. 
Subsequently  Pelletier  succeeded,  in  conjunction  with  Magendie, 
in  obtaining  a  product  of  distinctly  basic  character,  which  was  sub- 
mitted to  analysis  by  Dumas1  and  its  composition  was  represented 
as  corresponding  with  the  formula  C15H24N04. 
Found.  Calculated. 
C  64-57  64-24 
H                                                                            777  8-39 
N  4"3o  4*96 
O  22-95  22"6l 
99*59  100*20 
This  base  was  described  as  a  white  pulverulent  substance  some- 
what yellowish  and  becoming  colored  on  exposure,  but  not  deli- 
quescent. It  melted  about  500  C,  was  very  slightly  soluble  in  cold 
water,  freely  soluble  in  alcohol  and  insoluble  in  ether. 
It  had  a  marked  alkaline  reaction  and  neutralized  acids,  but  ap- 
parently did  not  form  crystallizable  salts,  though  "acid  solutions  some- 
times showed  signs  of  crystals."  An  aqueous  solution  was  not  pre- 
cipitated by  basic  lead  acetate.  It  was,  therefore,  very  different 
from  the  emetine  of  the  French  Codex,  and  Magendie  found  it  to  be 
three  times  as  effective  medicinally. 
Various  methods  of  preparing  emetine  were  subsequently  sug- 
gested by  Calloud,  Merck,  Reich  and  Leprat,  but  none  of  them 
furnished  a  perfectly  pure  and  chemically  individual  substance. 
The  examination  of  the  alkaloid  obtained  from  the  official  Brazilian 
ipecacuanha  by  Reich2  is  chiefly  noticeable  for  the  results  of  the  ele- 
mentary analysis  leading  to  the  formula  C20H30N2O5 : 
Found.  Calculated. 
C                                                                         63-114  63-49 
H  7*99i  7*93 
N  .  6*109  7-40 
O  •      r    22786  2I'l8 
ICO'  lOO* 
xAnn.  de  Chim.  Phys.y  2,  XXIV,  180. 
2i863.    Archiv  der Pharm.,  2,  113,  193. 
