THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
AUGUST,  i892. 
.  HYPOPHOSPHITE 
PREPARATIONS 
By  Frank  X.  Moerk,  Ph.G. 
Contribution  from  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy. 
No.  112. 
In  connection  with  other  contributions  on  the  1iypophospliitesy 
published  in  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  during  the  last  few 
years,  it  was  thought  desirable  to  embrace  an  examination  of  the 
more  soluble  hypophosphite  preparations  as  found  in  the  Philadel- 
phia market.  The  object  was  to  ascertain  the  quantity  of  hypo- 
phosphites  in  preparations  the  formulas  of  which  are  kept  secret ;  in 
others  to  make  comparison  of  the  quantity  found  and  that 
claimed  to  be  present,  and  lastly  to  allow  a  comparison  to  be  made 
of  these  several  preparations  with  those  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia 
and  the  National  Formulary. 
The  basic  constituents  were  only  qualitatively  tested  for ;  the 
metallic  constituents  generally  being  tested  for  in  the  residue  after 
ignition.  The  alkaloids  were  extracted  by  diluting  the  preparations 
with  water,  rendering  alkaline  with  sodium  hydrate  and  agitating 
with  chloroform;  a  little  of  the  chloroform  residue  with  sulphuric 
acid  and  a  fragment  of  potassium  bichromate  revealed  the  presence 
or  absence  of  strychnine  ;  a  larger  portion  of  the  residue  dissolved  in 
dilute  sulphuric  acid  by  its  fluorescence,  by  the  thalleioquin  reaction, 
and  by  yielding  a  white  precipitate  with  ammonia,  readily  soluble  in 
excess,  indicated  quinine. 
Of  the  several  methods  for  the  estimation  of  hypophosphites  the 
one  with  mercuric  chloride  only  was  available  since  the  other  methods 
in  presence  of  organic  substances,  like  sugar,  etc.,  give  erroneous 
results.  Having  quite  a  number  of  these  determinations  to  make 
it  was  found  to  be  of  advantage  to  ascertain  the  mercurous  chloride 
(393) 
