抄録
Aconite root (Bushi in Japanese) from Aconitum japonicum THUMB. has long been used as one of the most important herbs as a heart stimulant, diuretic agent ; and anodyne in Chinese medichine. Isolation and identification of the cardiac principle predicted by Yakazu are described. In the isolation process, the Yagi-Hartung method using frog heart was found to be useful for pharmacological measurement of cardiac activity of the material. The material was water soluble and was fairly unstable, especilly in a basic medium, and was tightly adsorbed on charcoal, alumina, silica gel, and cellulose powder, indicating that these agents are not useful for the separation. Isolation of the material was finally achieved by the limited combination of gel filtration through Sephadex LH-20 and counter current distribution, and colorless plates, mp 260°, were obtained as HCl salt. This principle stimulates frog heart even 1 : 10-9 dilution, and it was designated as Higenamine. Higenamine was identified as dl-demethylcoclaurine (II) from the spectral data and by comparison with synthesized authentic sample.
