ARE′CINA

C 23 H 26 N 2 O 4 . An alkaloid discovered by Pelletier and Comol, in white cinchona bark from Aréca. It is extracted from the bark by the same proce as Quinine, viz., by boiling the bark with acidulated water, treating the liquor with lime, and digesting the lime-precipitate in alcohol. The solution filtered at the boiling heat yields a very dark-coloured liquid, which, after a time, deposits the greater part of the aricine in crystals. An additional quantity may be obtained from the mother-liquor by expelling the alcohol by distillation, treating the residue with a slight exce of hydrochloric acid, separating the greater part of the colouring matter by means of a saturated solution of common salts, then throwing down the aricine by ammonia, di olving the precipitate in alcohol, decolourising with animal charcoal and crystallising.