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About the occurrence of Harmin in a South American Vine (Yagé).


Web link: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/1...

Pages: 162 - 166

Abstract

By the coming of Dr. Raymond-Hamet, tlie Fa. F. Hoffmann-La Roche & Co. . A. G. in the possession of about 9 kg of the Yagé drug he examined, which consisted of uniform-looking, approximately 20-30 cm long and approximately 1-5 cm thick stem-skins of a liane. However, in the sample with Mayer's reagent it was found that only a small part of this stalk was alkaloid-containing, while the other part, about 7 kg, turned out to be almost alkaloid-free. Only the alkaloid-containing stem stubs were used for the further tests. They contain the alkaloid both in the bark and in the wood. For extraction, bark and wood were separated from one another, grinding, triturated with lime and diluted sodium hydroxide solution and extracted in Soxhlet apparatus. The alkaloid was readily discharged from the ether extract in yellowish crystals which were obtained in colourless colourless after the recrystallization of alcohol. The crystals melt at 263°-264°. In addition to this alkaloid, at least one of the alkaloid is certainly present, because while the main alkaloid gives colourless side, one obtains from the crude product, or from the mother liquors a bright yellow citrate. When Prof. G. Barger (Edinburgh) saw this latter occasionally a visit to Basel, he noticed that the substance looked like Harmalin. In the persecution of this presumption, it turned out that the isolated main alkaloid is identical to the harmin.