Some Constituents of the Poison Ivy Plant (Rhus Toxicodendron)Syme, William Anderson
Science
Some Constituents of the Poison Ivy Plant (Rhus Toxicodendron)
Syme, William Anderson
Poison ivy
It was stated above that Schmid obtained a sugar solution by the
decomposition of a fisetin-glucoside from _Rhus cotinus_, and Perkin
obtained the same from a glucoside in _Rhus rhodanthema_. These
investigators thought that the sugar was isodulcite or rhamnose, but
they did not isolate it on account of the small quantities of material
at their disposal. Moreover, the sugar is very hard to crystallize in
the presence of other soluble substances and is not found in large
quantity in plants. Maquenne[27] could obtain only 15 to 20 gm. of
rhamnose by working up 1 kilogram of the berries of _Rhamnus
infectorius_. Assuming that the free fisetin found in poison ivy leaves
had its origin in the decomposition of a fisetin-glucoside by natural
processes, it was reasonable to suppose that the sugar would also be
found in the free state, although, according to Roscoe and
Schorlemmer:[28] "Isodulcite does not occur in the free state in nature,
but is found as a peculiar ethereal salt belonging to the class of
glucosides. On boiling with dilute sulphuric acid, this splits up into
isodulcite and other bodies...." The more recent works on the sugars and
on plant chemistry[29] mention the occurrence of rhamnose only in the
glucoside form, with one possible exception. The exception referred to
is the occurrence of a free sugar, supposed to be rhamnose, in a certain
palm-wine.[30] Czapek says:[31] "The well-known methyl pentoses do not
occur in the free state in plant organisms so far as we know."
Since rhamnose forms a lead compound, the sugar, if present, should be
found in the first lead precipitate, A, and also in filtrate A in case
it is not completely precipitated in the presence of acetic acid and
alcohol.
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