Chemical examination of the roots of Phaseolus multiflorus / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway.

  • Power, Frederick B. (Frederick Belding), 1853-1927.
Date:
[1913]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Chemical examination of the roots of Phaseolus multiflorus / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    colourless, gelatinous product separated. This was collected, washed with hot water, and dried at 125°. It then melted and decomposed at aibout 200°. Although this hydrolytic pro- duct could not be crystallised, having been obtained from a pure glucoside it was presumed to be homogeneous, and was therefore analysed. 0 0763 gave 0 2088 CO, and 0 0722 H,0. C = 74 6; H = 105. C26H,uOj requires C = 74'3; H = 10'5 per cent. In accordance with the usual terminology of hydrolytic pro- ducts of the saponins, this substance may be designated jihaseosapogenin. After the removal of the above hydrolytic product from the acid, aqueous liquid, the latter was carefully neutralised w’ith sodium carbonate and evaporated to dryness under diminished pressure. The residue was then digested with alcohol, the mixture filtered, and the filtrate evaporated, when a small quantity of a syrupy liquid remained. This product yielded a very small amount of an osazone, which separated in yellow leaflets, melting at 180°. It thus appeared probable that the sugar formed by the hydrolysis of the glucoside was rhamnose. In accordance with this conclusion and the com- position of the above-mentioned product, the hydrolysis of the glucoside may be represented by the following equation :— Oa.H„Oao + 4H,0 = CaiHt404 + 4CcH1205. In connection with the above-described glucoside, it is of interest to note that A. W. van der Haar7 obtained from the leaves of Polyscias nodosa, Forst. (Nat. Ord. Araliaceae), an amorphous saponin, the analysis and molecular weight deter- mination of which were stated to lead to the formula C,5H42O10. In a subsequent investigation of the Polyscias saponin by the same author8 a crystalline sapogenin was ob- tained as a hydrolytic product, to which, in accordance with a molecular weight determination, the formula C26H.140., was assigned. If, however, this substance were derived from the above-mentioned Polyscias glucoside, the formula of the latter would necessarily require to be doubled, and to be repre- sented as C50Hs.,O,0. Notwithstanding the apparent agree- ment in composition of the glucosides from the roots of Phaseolus multiflorus and the leaves of Polyscias nodosa respectively, it is evident that neither these substances nor their hydrolytic products are identical. Physiological Tests. The following products from the roots of the scarlet runner bean were kindly tested for us with respect to their activity by Dr. H. H. Dale, Director of the Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories, to whom our best thanks may here be expressed. In all the experiments the material was admin- istered to a dog by the mouth. 7 Arch. Pharm., 1939, 247, 215. 8 Arch. Pharm., 1912, 250, 424.