Extractum Glycyrrhiza (U. S. P.)—Extract of Glycyrrhiza.
Related entry: Glycyrrhiza (U. S. P.)—Glycyrrhiza
SYNONYM: Extract of liquorice.
"The commercial extract of the root of Glycyrrhiza glabra, Linné (Nat. Ord.—Leguminosae)"—(U. S. P.).
Source, History, and Description.—The black cylindrical sticks met with in commerce are an extract of liquorice root (Extractum Glycyrrhizae), which is prepared in some of the southern European countries; they are in the form of hard, black cylinders, which are prepared by inspissating the decoction in copper kettles, till the mass is thick enough to become firm on cooling. Water slowly dissolves from 3/5 to 11/12 of it, alcohol only about 1/8, and acquires an acrid taste, while the residuum is purely sweet, and entirely soluble in water.
The impure extract is in slightly compressed and cylindrical sticks, about 6 inches long, and from 9 to 12 lines in diameter, being enveloped in sweet bay leaves. The best kind is dark brownish-black, smooth, shining, brittle when cold, tough and flexible when warm, very sweet and soluble in water. It should be freed from impurities for internal use.
The U. S. P. describes extract of glycyrrhiza: "In flattened, cylindrical rolls, from 15 to 18 Cm. (6 to 7 inches) long, and from 15 to 30 Mm. (1/2 to 1 1/5 inch) thick; of a glossy black color. It breaks with a sharp, conchoidal, shining fracture, and has a very sweet, peculiar taste. Not less than 60 per cent of it should be soluble in cold water"—(U. S. P.). To purify liquorice, the crude extract is dissolved in water without boiling, the solution strained, and evaporated to the proper consistence. (See purified extract of liquorice.) If the water be boiled during the purification, much of the impurity may be taken up, which is not desirable. Immense amounts of extract of liquorice, in the form of mass extract, are imported into this country for the use of tobacconists, who employ it to sweeten plug chewing tobacco.
Extractum Glycyrrhizae Fluidum (U. S. P.)—Fluid Extract of Glycyrrhiza.
SYNONYM: Fluid extract of liquorice root.
Preparation.—"Glycyrrhiza, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; ammonia water, fifty cubic centimeters (50 Cc.) [1 fl℥, 332♏]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl℥, 391♏]. Mix the ammonia water with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl℥, 69♏] of alcohol and six hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (650 Cc.) [21 fl℥, 470♏] of water, and, having moistened the powder with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fl℥, 401♏] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical glass percolator; then add enough menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and then a mixture of alcohol and water, made in the proportion of three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl℥, 69♏] of alcohol and six hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (650 Cc.) [21 fl℥, 470♏] of water, until the glycyrrhiza is exhausted. Reserve the first seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl℥, 173♏] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough of the mixture of alcohol and water to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl℥, 391♏]"—(U. S. P.).
Description and Medical Uses.—(See Glycyrrhiza). Unlike the product of the U. S. P., 1880, this fluid extract contains no glycerin, but some ammonia, which renders the glycyrrhizin soluble, making the preparation sweeter and stronger. No ammonia is contained in the Liquid extract of liquorice (Extractum Glycyrrhizae Liquidum) of the British Pharmacopoeia. Fluid extract of glycyrrhiza is intended to facilitate the dispensing of extract of liquorice in cough mixtures, and for concealing the bitter taste of quinine and quinine mixtures, aloes, and other unpleasantly bitter medicines. By adding fluid extract of liquorice (1 part) to simple syrup (7 parts), a syrup of liquorice may be prepared, useful in extemporaneous prescribing of quinine. It must be remembered that mixtures of quinine and liquorice produce unsightly precipitates, which must not be filtered. Fluid extract of liquorice occasionally deposits its glycyrrhizin as a brown precipitate. When this occurs the addition of a small amount of ammonia water will redissolve it.
Extractum Glycyrrhizae Purum (U. S. P.)—Pure Extract of Glycyrrhiza.
SYNONYMS: Pure extract of liquorice, Extractum glycyrrhizae depuratum, Succus liquiritiae depuratus.
Preparation.—"Glycyrrhiza, in No. 20 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; ammonia water, one hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (150 Cc.) [5 fl℥, 35♏]; distilled water, a sufficient quantity. Mix the ammonia water with three thousand cubic centimeters (3000 Cc.) [101 fl℥, 212♏] of distilled water, and, having moistened the powder with one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl℥, 391♏] of the menstruum, let it macerate for 24 hours. Then pack it moderately in a cylindrical glass percolator, and gradually pour upon it, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and then distilled water, until the glycyrrhiza is exhausted. Lastly, evaporate the infusion, by means of a water-bath, to a pilular consistence"—(U. S. P.).
Description and Medical Uses.—(See Glycyrrhiza). This is a brown extract, possessing a pleasant sweet taste. It mixes clear with water. The object of the ammonia is to render the glycyrrhizin soluble. Care must be taken in its preparation, lest too great a heat should impart to it an empyreumatic flavor. It is used as a protective demulcent and lenitive in laryngo-broncho-pulmonic affections, but chiefly as an adjuvant in various mixtures, and to disguise the bitterness of quinine, with which it forms an insoluble compound. All mixtures of quinine and liquorice should be given in substance, never filtered.
Related Preparation.—EXTRACTUM GLYCYRRHIZAE DEPURATUM (N. F.), Purified extract of glycyrrhiza, Purified extract of liquorice.—Formulary number, 158: "Extract of glycyrrhiza, in sticks; water, each, a sufficient quantity. Put a layer of well-washed rye-straw over the bottom of a keg or other suitable tall vessel. Then put a single layer of sticks of extract of glycyrrhiza, broken into coarse pieces, over it. Continue to put in alternate layers of straw and extract of glycyrrhiza until the vessel is full, or the whole of the extract has been disposed of. Fill the vessel with cold water, and allow it to remain for 3 days. Then draw off the solution which has formed, by means of a faucet, or siphon, or otherwise, refill the vessel with cold water, and proceed as before. Mix the several solutions obtained, allow any suspended matter to subside, decant the clear solution, and strain the remainder without pressure. Finally evaporate the liquid on a water-bath to the consistence of a pilular extract. Note.—Purified extract of glycyrrhiza should not be confounded with the official pure extract of glycyrrhiza (Extractum Glycyrrhizae Purum)"—(Nat. Form.). See above.
King's American Dispensatory, 1898, was written by Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D.
