Nux vomica extract

Fig 1 Reflectance scan of a chromatogram of Nux vomica extract (A) and of a reference track with 100 ng each of brucine (1) and strychnine (2) per chromatogram zone (B). 

Fig. 1 Reflectance scan of a nux vomica extract (A) and a reference chromatogram containing 1 gg each of strychnine and brucine (B). Start (1), brucine (2), strychnine (3), front (4).

Sukul NC, Ghosh S, Sinhababu SP, Sukul A. 2001. Strychnos nux-vomica extract and its ultra high dilution reduce voluntary ethanol intake in rats../ Alt Comp Medl 187-193. 

Plants have provided several other important pesticides. The group of insecticides called pyrethrums was harvested and refined from chrysanthemums. The plant nux vomica contains strychnine, which was used to kill rodents. Rotenone, another important insecticide was extracted from the root of Denis eliptica. Plant extracts were useful, but difficult to purify and obtain in quantity. Significant increases in the use of pesticides occurred with advances in synthetic chemistry and our understanding of biology. 

Strychnine was discovered and identified as the main toxic principle of Strychnos in 1818, although nux vomica, the unpurified plant extract in which it is the active component, had been known and used for both medicinal and criminal purposes for some time. Historic records indicate that the strychnine alkaloid had been used to kill dogs, cats, and birds in Emope as far back as 1640. The structure of strychnine was first determined in 1946 by Sir Robert Robinson and in 1954 this alkaloid was synthesized in a laboratory by Robert W. Woodward. This is one of the most famous syntheses in the history of organic chemistry. Both chemists won the Nobel prize (Robinson in 1947 and Woodward in 1965). 

Ext. Nucis Vomics (extract of nux) The seeds of Stryctms nux vomica used in a similar manner as its alkaloid strychnine. 

Leaching or solid-liquid extraction are terms that describe the extraction of soluble constituents from a solid or semisolid by means of suitable solvents. The process, which is used whenever tea or coffee is made, is an important stage in the production of many fine chemicals found naturally in animal and vegetable tissue. Examples are found in the extraction of fixed oils from seeds, in the preparation of alkaloids, such as strychnine from Nux vomica beans or quinine from Cinchona bark and in the isolation of enzymes, such as rennin, and hormones, such as insulin, from animal sources. In the past, a wider importance attended the process because the products of simple extraction procedures, known as galenicals, formed the major part of the ingredients used to fulfill a doctor s prescription. 

Derivation By extraction and subsequent crystallization from nux vomica or ignatia seeds. 

Derivation Extraction of the seeds of Nux vomica with acetic acid, filtration, precipitation by alkali and filtration. 

Alkaloid extracted from plants of the Strychnos family. S. nux-vomica East Indies and India. Was used in tonics no longer. Bitter detectable at 1 in 105 dilution. Absorbed across gut, metabolized by liver, excreted by kidneys. Glycinergic antagonist, CNS stimulant. Lethal dose adult 32 mg, child 15 mg. Effects rapid onset of tremor, twitching, convulsions, great pain, opisthotonus, sweating, respiratory paralysis. Convulsions can be triggered by any disturbance. 

Aperient Pills. Take 8 ctoLds nux-vomica, 12 grains extract of heimone, and 48 grains compound extract of colocynth. Make into 24 pills. 

Health Pills. PiUsahtfis, Tako 2 drachms socotrine aloes, 1 dri bm extract of henbane. 16 grains extract of nux-vomica, and 10 grains powdered ipecacuanha. Mix, and make into 60 pills. 

Strychnine and brucine, which occur in the seeds of Strychnos nux-vomica, L. and in the beans of Strychnos ignatii, Berg., are isolated (260) by mixing the powdered seeds with slaked lime and adding sufficient water to make a paste. The paste is dried and extracted with chloroform. The alkaloids are recovered from this chloroform solution by extraction tvith dilute sulfuric acid, followed by precipitation of the bases with ammonia. Extraction of the crude alkaloid mixture with 25% alcohol dissolves the brucine, while the residue contains most of the strychnine. The crude alkaloids are purified by crystallization from alcohol. 

New extractions of the root bark of Sri Lankan Strychnos nux vomica have disclosed the presence, besides strychnine, brucine, and isostrychnine, of 12-hydroxystrychnine, 12-hydroxy-11-methoxystrychnine, and a minor base, named protostrychnine (168), because of the obvious possibility that it may be an immediate biosynthetic precursor of strychnine. The overall structure (168), but not necessarily the configuration at C-17, was confirmed by allowing the 18-0-tigloyl ester to react with phosphorus oxychloride in pyridine saponification of the product, followed by treatment with dilute hydrochloric acid, then gave strychnine. 

L. was first isolated in 1884 from an extract of the poison nut tree Strychnos nux-vomica, Loganiaceae). The poison nut tree is indigenous to tropical India and Sri Lanka. L. also occurs in European bog bean (water trefoil) Menyanthes trifoliata, Menyanthaceae) and in... 

Rao PS, Ramanadham M, Prasad MNV. Anti-proliferative and cytotoxic effects of Strychnos nux vomica root extract on human multiple myeloma cell line RPMI 8226. Food Chem Toxicol 2009 47(2) 283-8. 

Such experiments, either with strychnine or with an extract of nux vomica, were continued by Gabriel-Constans Colin, a professor at the French veterinary school, with essentially the same results. Colin thought strychnine should easily be absorbed from the stomach for the reason that the organ s mucosa is simple and... 

Strychnine and brucine are sourced from the seeds of the nux-vomica, a tree native to India. The seeds are powdered, blended with alkali, and extracted at ambient temperature with a hydrocarbon solvent. Seeds containing 2.5 % total alkaloids would yield on an average 7 kg each of strychnine and brucine per ton of seeds [151]. 

Structure. Strychnine is an indole alkaloid similar to brucine (Figure 22-3). The alkaloid is extracted from Slrychnos-nux vomica, a tree found in southern Asia and northern Australia... 

The determination of strychnine in nux vomica and its preparations may be carried out by solvent extraction and ion exchange isolation of the alkaloids followed by a 2-point spectrophotometric method. Oxy-cellulose can be used or, preferably, treated alginic. acid which can replace it in all cases, is more stable and less difficult to prepare. 

Liquid Extract of Nux Vomica, B.P. Contains 1 5 per cent of strychnine. 

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