Mountain Ash

Malic acid is prepared from the juice of the mountain ash berries by precipitation as the calcium salt. 

Eber, m. boar hog. -esche, /. mountain ash, service tree, -raute, /. southernwood, abro-tanum (Artemisia abrotanum). -wurz, -wur-zel, /. carline thistle (Carftna) carline root. Ebne, n. plane plain, ebnen, t.t. level, flatten, smooth, plane. ebulUeren, v.t. boil up break out. ebullioskopisch, a. ebullioscopic. Bcballiumsaure, /. ecballic acid. 

Apples, pears, quinces, black chokeberry, mountain ash and medlar... 

Elder can be confused with another tree, mountain ash. Mountain ash has leaves that are alternate instead of opposite and its seeds are winged. 

On the other hand, borohydride reduction of the ketose o-fructose will give a mixture of o-glucitol and its epimer, D-mannitol. A better approach to D-mannitol would be reduction of the aldose D-mannose. o-Glucitol (sorbitol) is found naturally in the ripe berries of the mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia), but is prepared semi-synthetically from glucose. It is half as sweet as sucrose, is not absorbed orally, and is not readily metabolized in the body. It finds particular use as a sweetener for diabetic products. o-Mannitol also occurs naturally in manna, the exudate of the manna ash Fraxinus ornus. This material has similar characteristics to sorbitol, but is used principally as a diuretic. It is injected intravenously, is eliminated rapidly into the urine, and removes fluid by an osmotic effect. 

A simple lactone, parasorbic acid, from the fruit of mountain ash, inhibits seed germination and also has antibacterial action (75). Another such compound, patulin, is produced by several fungi, including Penicillium urticae, which produced large amounts of the substance when growing on wheat straw (76). 

Since parasorbic acid was previously isolated by steam distillation of the juice of mountain ash berries (.S), we steam distilled a sample of the cranberry leaf extract, but obtained little 2. The literature reports that before the ash berry juice was distilled, it was treated with calcium hydroxide to precipitate malic acid. Tschesche later showed that such treatment followed by acidification converted the glucoside of parasorbic acid, into the free acid (lactone), 2, (9). This base treatment effects a B-ellmination of the glucose fragment. In the absence of this base treatment, no free parasorbic acid was liberated from the berries. 

When the cranberry leaf extract was treated with calcium hydroxide followed by acidification and extraction with ether, parasorbic acid was indeed isolated. It was identified from the IR and HMR spectra of the crude extract and by identical retention time on two glc columns with an authentic sample of parasorbic acid. We then analyzed samples of the cranberry leaf extract by glc before and after treatment with calcium hydroxide (followed by acidification), samples of parasorbic acid alone, and extract plus parasorbic acid (in the presence of calcium hydroxide followed by acidification). Our results (Table I) show that parasorbic acid from the extract was obtained only upon calcium hydroxide treatment. This result agrees with Tschesche s observations on mountain ash berries. 

By far the most important oxidation of the hexitols is their specific biochemical transformation to ketoses. The history of this reaction dates from the fortuitous discovery of L-sorbose in mountain ash berries by Pelouze in 1852. It was not until twenty years later that Boussin-gault showed that it had arisen by bacterial oxidation of sorbitol. 

Sorbitol is a naturally occurring sugar found in a wide range of fruits. It was first isolated in 1872 from mountain ash berries, and the berries of the Sorbus genus are still the richest source of this chemical [3]. 

TART AMO ACID—2HO, CaH40,o—Addetartarique, Trench, Wdmteinmwre, Gorman—was first obtained in a separate state by Scheele in 1770. It is found partly free, partly combined with bases in many plants. It exists most largely in grape-juice, but it is met with also in tamarinds, and tha berry of the mountain ash In madder, potatoes, cucumbers, quassia, squills in mulberries, pine apples, et cetera. 

It is prepared as follows native sulphur salt of the mountains, ashes, brontesinos (tliunder-stone) pyrites, equal parts. Mix in a black mortar at noon with the juice of the black mulberry and bitumen of Zacynthus, a natural liquid, in equal parts, to a pasty consistency. Add with care a little quicklime, grind carefully at noon. Guard your face for the material may take fire suddenly. Enclose it in a copper box with a cover, and keep it and do not expose it to the sun. If you wish to set fire to the arms of... 

Nitrosorbite (Sorbitol hexanitrate) d-Sorbite occurs in the berries of the mountain ash, but is more readily procured by the electrolytic reduction of d-glucose. It crystallizes with one molecule of water in small crystals which lose their water when heated and melt at about 110°. Nitrosorbite, isomeric with nitromannite, exists as a viscous liquid and has never been obtained in the crystalline state. It is used in non-freezing dynamites. 

Mountain-ash (Sorbus aucuparia L.) honey is reddish in color, with a strong aroma and pleasant flavor. 

In 1852 Pelouze1 isolated a crystalline, sweet organic substance from the fermented and bacterially oxidized juice of the mountain ash berry... 

As early as 1852, as has been mentioned (page 99), Pelouze1 allowed the juice of the mountain ash berry (Sorbus aucuparia L) to ferment... 

It is of interest that L-sorbose has been produced from a gum named sorban which was discovered by Von Lippmann38 in a large wound of a mountain ash tree that had been struck by lightning he hydrolyzed this gum enzymatically and isolated crystalline L-sorbose ([a]D — 42.9°). 

---