Theobromine and Sodium Salicylate, Merck & Co.
Theobromine and Sodium Salicylate Powder, Powers-Weightman-Rosengarten Co.
Theobromine and Sodium Salicylate, “Roche,” Hoffmann-La Roche Chemical Works.
Theobromine and Sodium Salicylate, Squibb, E. R. Squibb & Sons.
The theobromin content prescribed for theobromin sodium salicylate by the various standards ranges from 45 to 50 per cent., that of New and Nonofficial Remedies being the highest. A requirement of not less than 46.5 per cent. theobromin in the dried powder has been proposed for the new U. S. Pharmacopeia.
The methods of quantitative estimation laid down by the various authorities are all very similar and consist, in the main, of a determination of water, of the sodium hydroxid, free and in combination with theobromin, and of the theobromin itself. For the theobromin estimation the following method was employed:
A weighed sample (about 2 gm) which had previously been dried, under slightly reduced pressure, over sulphuric acid, to constant weight, was dissolved in five times its weight of warm water. Two drops of phenolphthalein were added, and the solution titrated with normal hydrochloric acid. To the neutral solution, 1 drop of 10 per cent. ammonium hydroxid solution was added, and the mixture allowed to stand, with occasional stirring, for three and one-half hours at the temperature of 15 C. The precipitate was filtered on a weighed Gooch crucible, washed with just ten times the weight (of the original sample taken) of water (temperature 15 C.) and the precipitate dried at from 100 to 104. To the weight obtained, a correction factor (proved satisfactory by quantitative extraction experiments on the filtrate) of 0.13 gm. was added, for every 2 grams of the original sample taken.
The full details of the examination will be published in the 1914 Reports of the A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory. The results of the examination have been abstracted and are compiled in the accompanying table:
SUMMARY OF ANALYSIS