Abstract
The authors have isolated a crystalline substance, an alkaloid, from I-Mu-Ts'ao ?? (Leonurus sibiricus L.), a Chinese drug which has been used for several thousand years as a drug for mothers in China.
The name “Leonurin” is given to the alkaloid because it has been found in “Leonurus sibiricus, L.” The plant contains a very small amount of the alkaloid, namely about 0, 05%, of the material.
Amyl_alcohol appears to be the only solvent capable of dissolving the free base of the alkaloid, but its hydrochloric salt dissolves in cold water or more in hot water up to a concentration of 1-2 %.
The alkaloid melts at 238°C., and from the result of its elemental analysis, seems to have the empirical form of C13H19N4O4 and is likely to have the _OCH3, group in its constitution.
