Tinctures, alcohol

Soaking plants parts in alcohol (ethanol) creates a tincture. In this process, pharmacologically active constituents of the plant are extracted by the alcohol. Tinctures do not contain the complete spectrum of substances that exist in the plant or crude drug, only those that are soluble in alcohol. In the case of opium tincture, these ingredients are alkaloids (i.e., basic substances of plant origin) including morphine, codeine, narcotine = noscapine, papaverine, narceine, and others. 

In addition to alcoholic tinctures, castoreum is available in the form of resinoids, which are prepared by extracting dried, comminuted pouches with suitable solvents. 

The animals are kept in cages, and the fresh secretion is taken from the pouches at regular (about one-week) intervals. Civet is almost liquid with a light yellow color. It darkens when exposed to light and takes on a consistency like salve. In dilutions (e.g., as an alcoholic tincture), civet has a pleasant, sweetish odor. A resinoid prepared by extraction with acetone is a dark brown-red mass [257]. Civetone (see p. 88) is the main odoriferous constituent of civet (2.5-3.4%). Civet contains other macrocyclic ketones such as cyclohexa- and cycloheptadecanone and 6-cw-cycloheptadecenone. Traces of indole and skatole contribute to the animal note [258]. 

Muscone and related macrocyclic ketones are responsible for the odor of musk [260,261]. Like other animal secretions, musk was preferentially used as an alcoholic tincture in fine fragrances. FCT 1983 (21) p. 865 [68991-41-3], [90064-09-8]. 

The tinctura iodi of the British Pharmacopoeia is a soln. of half an ounce of iodine, and a quarter of an ounce of potassium iodide in a pint of rectified spirit. P. Wantig found the mol. ht. of soln. —1 941 Cals., and S. U. Pickering —1 714 per 880 mol. of ethyl alcohol. C. Lowig found that alcoholic tincture of bromine is slowly decomposed in darkness, rapidly in light. Alcoholic soln. of iodine, according to H. E. Barnard, are stable in light and in darkness, but according to J. M. Eder they decompose 1000 times more slowly than chlorine water under similar conditions T. Budde has shown that hydriodic acid, acetic ester, and aldehyde are formed, and the electrical conductivity of the soln. increases. J. H. Mathews and E. H. Archibald and W. A. Patrick found a freshly prepared AT-soln. to have an electrical conductivity of 2 4 XlO-6 reciprocal ohms and a sat. soln., 1 61 X10 4 reciprocal ohms at 25°. The decomposition is accelerated by the presence of platinum. The heat of soln. decreases with concentration from —7 92 to —7 42 cals, respectively for dilute and sat. soln. in methyl alcohol, and likewise from —4 88 to —5 22 cals, for similar soln. in ethyl alcohol. The solubility of iodine in aq. soln. of propyl alcohol is not very different from that in ethyl alcohol. 

Elixir A solution, often an alcoholic tincture, of drugs. 

In general, polysaccharides tend to be more stable than alkamides and CAP, but their presence in Echinacea preparations is somewhat dictated by processing conditions. For example, one would expect dried plant material to contain the highest polysaccharide levels, followed by expressed juice preparation and alcohol tincture. Limited data are available regarding the effects of post-harvest handling and processing on polysaccharide levels. 

At the time when Shalimar was made it was customary to use a high proportion of the alcoholic tinctures made from natural products, rather than the concentrated absolutes and resins. These would have included such products as vanilla, benzoin, and tonka to give naturalness to the ethyl vanillin and coumarin, as well as tinctures of civet, castoreum, ambergris, and musk. Such products retain more of the most volatile components of the starting material, giving a wonderful quality and life to the finished product. 

The alcohol extract floating on top will be the Ens Tincture that will be removed after the digestion. The alcohol will become darkly tinted after a few days. After about two weeks (or longer) you can carefully draw off the alcohol tincture from the top of the Oil of Tartar / herb layer. Allow it to stand for a day or two then filter for use. 

Pellets Small spheres of sucrose saturated with an alcoholic tincture, primarily used in homeopathic medicine. Pellets are made in different sizes, designated according to the diameter of ten pellets measured in millimeters. Remington s Practice of Pharmacy (1926) states that pellets should be made of the purest materials, should be perfectly white and odorless and able to withstand all the tests prescribed for sucrose or cane sugar (also see Globules)P ... 

Echinacea is sold as a dietary supplement in the United States and as natural health products in Canada, while in Germany and many European countries, Echinacea products are sold as drugs in pharmacies (Bauer, 2000). There are a number of products on the market, which include dried herbal and root, alcohol tinctures and extracts, and expressed juice products, thus, standardization would be a difficult task. However, regulation would be less difficult because all of these products would fall under a dietary supplements category. 

Delicate Test for Iron and Copper. The alcohol tincture of logwood will produce a blue or bluish-black tint in water which has been run through iron or copper pipes, when neither tincture of galls, ealpbocyauido, nor the ferrid and ferroeyau-ides of potassium show auy reaction. 

Sthereo-alcoholic Tincture of Pellitory for Tooth and Pace-ache. Take of bruis pellitory, 1 ounce pure ether, 2 fluid ounces strongest rectifi spirit, 3 fluid ounces digest them together in a stoppered bottle, in a cool place, for a week, with frequent agitation, then express the tincture, but avoid filtration. Some persons use equal parts of ether and spirit, but the product does not then keep so well. An excellent remedy for tooth-ache and face-ache, often giving almost immediate relief in the former case. 

Black Oils, Best alcohol, tincture of arnica, British oil, and oil of tar, of each 2 ounces and slowly add sulphnrio acid, 4 ounce. Extensively used as a liniment, particularly in cases whore there is much inflammation. 

Venomous stings and bites Mix alcohol tincture with equal amount of water and wash affected area liberally every 30 minutes. 

Currently, there is much interest in alcohol tinctures of CHG. These alcohol/CHG products may prove to be highly effective for use as fast-acting, preoperative skin preps, as well as preinjection and prearterial/venous catheterization preps. Preparations of alcohol/CHG in combination have reported high immediate antimicrobial properties (presumably due to the alcohol) with the benefit of persistent antimicrobial properties (due to the CHG) to provide a clinical performance superior to either alcohol or CHG alone. 

Solutions of iodine in alcohol ( tincture of iodine ) are household antiseptics. Because of its radioactivity, astatine has not been studied extensively it would be interesting to be able to compare its properties and reactions with those of the other halogens. 

Documented effects An alcoholic tincture of the roots is applied externally to treat radiculitis, neuralgia, rheumatism, and as an analgesic. This tincture is a component of the preparation Akofit. An infusion of the tubers and the aboveground parts is used as a component of the preparation Anginol, which is used to treat sore throats. Because of the high toxicity the plant is not widely used in medicine (Khalmatov et al. 1984). Compounds isolated from the plant exhibited anti-tumor activity in vitro (Chodoeva et al. 2005). 

Polysaccharides are insoluble in organic solvents—they precipitate in alcohol. Tinctures, which are made using alcoholic solvents of 45% strength or higher, are therefore of little use where demulcent or emollient effects are required. 

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