A Note on the Occurrence of Gramine in Acer rubrum L.**Research and Development Division, Smith Kline and French Laboratories, Philadelphia 1, Pa.

✍ Scribed by Pachter, Irwin J.

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 1959
• Weight: 120 KB
• Volume: 48
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0095-9553
• DOI: 10.1002/jps.3030481118

✦ Synopsis

BY IRWIN J. PACHTER N A PREVIOUS communication (1) it was reported

I that the alkaloid gramine occurs in the leaves of the silver maple tree, Acer saccharinum L. Since alkaloids had not been reported previously in plants of the maple family, it was of interest to us to check other maples for alkaloid content.

Tests on the leaves and stems of Acer rubrum L.' showed the presence of traces of alkaloids. The winged fruit' gave a stronger test and was therefore subjected to analysis.

From 120 Gm. of dried ground fruit there was isolated 37 mg. of a crystalline alkaloid, m. p. 130-131". The alkaloid was found to be identical with a synthetic specimen of gramine through mixed melting point determination and comparisons of infrared and ultraviolet spectra. The picrate derivatives of the natural and synthetic specimens were prepared and found to be identical.

EXPERIMENTAL

A 120-Gm. sample of dried fruit of Acer rubrum L. was finely ground in a Waring Blendor and al-*