Lavialle claimed to have obtained an alkaloid, Kavaine.[7]
[7] L’Union Pharm. Jan. 1889.
The following statement was found in “Watts Chemical Dictionary”, “Kawain—a crystalline resin occurring along with methysticin in kawa-kawa, It is not a glucoside. On oxidation it yields benzoic acid.[8]
[8] Gobley, J. Ph. (3) 37, 19.
The following statement appears in the Encyclopedia Britannica. “There appears to be little doubt that the active principle in this beverage is a poison of an alkaloidal nature. It seems likely that this substance is not present as such (i.e. as a free alkaloid) in the plant, but that it exists in the form of a glucoside, and that by the process of chewing, this glucoside is split up by one of the ferments in the saliva and the free alkaloid and sugar is formed”.
Arthur Bossingham[9] communicates the results of a chemical examination of Kava-kava. Besides the crystalline body, methysticin, which has already been described by others, he was able to isolate and identify three resins, one soluble in 5% solution of potassium carbonate, the second insoluble in this, but soluble in 5% solution of caustic potash, while the third was insoluble in both of these alkaline solvents, The ash amounts to 2.495% of the air dried root, and contained besides mere traces of Fe, Mn, mainly Calcium, Sodium and Potassium.[10]
[9] Proc. A. Ph. A. 1898, 564.
[10] Proc. Wisc. Pharm. Assos. 1898, 53, 55.
METHOD OF EXTRACTION.
The fresh rhizome was chopped up and then ground up by means of a meat chopper. In the preliminary work the material was dried in a vacuum oven at a temperature not exceeding forty degrees Centigrade. In the later work the material was rapidly dried in the sun. This operation required about two days time. After being thoroughly dried, the material was finely powdered, and then extracted with ether. The following continuous extraction apparatus was used. Due to the extreme rapidity with which the ether evaporated, it was necessary to surround the coils with ice so as to keep the condensers cold.