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Bible Encyclopedias
Berberine
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or C 20 H 17 N0 4, an alkaloid occurring together with the alkaloids oxyacanthine C18H19N03, berbamine C18H19N03, hydrastine C21H21N06, and canadine C 20 H 21 N0 4, in Berberis vulgaris; it also occurs in other plants, Berberis aristata, B. aquifolium, Hydrastis canadensis, &c. It is a yellow, crystalline solid, insoluble in ether and chloroform, soluble in 41 parts of water at 21°, and moderately soluble in alcohol. It is a monacid base; the hydrochloride, C 20 H 17 N0 4 HC1, is insoluble in cold alcohol, ether and chloroform, and soluble in 500 parts of water; the acid sulphate, C 20 H 17 N0 4 H 2 SO 4, dissolves in about loo parts of water. Canadine is a tetrahydroberberine.
Its constitution was worked out by W. H. Perkin (J.C.S., 1889, 55, p. 6 3; 1890, 57, p. 99 1). This followed from a study of the decomposition products, there being obtained hemipinic acid (CH 3 0) 2 C 6 H 2 (000H) 2, and a substance which proved to be co - amino - ethyl - piperonyl carboxylic acid, CH 2 O 2 :C 6 H 2 [[Cooh-Ch 2 Ch 2 Nh]] 2. His formula was modified by Gadamer (Abs. J.C.S., 1902, 1, p. 555), who made the free base an aldehyde, but the salts of an iso-quinolinium type. This formula, which necessitates the presence of two asymmetric carbon atoms in an alkyl tetrahydroberberine, has been accepted by M. Freund and F. Mayer (Abs. J.C.S., 1907, 1, p. 632), who showed that two racemic propyl tetrahydroberberines are produced when propyl dihydroberberine is reduced.
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Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Berberine'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/b/berberine.html. 1910.
