cinchonidine

[ sing-kon-i-deen, -din, sin- ]

noun

, Pharmacology.

1. a white, crystalline, slightly water-soluble, levorotatory alkaloid, C 19 H 22 N 2 O, stereoisomeric with cinchonine and similarly derived, used chiefly as a quinine substitute.

cinchonidine

/ sɪŋˈkɒnɪˌdiːn /

noun

1. an alkaloid that is a stereoisomer of cinchonine, with similar properties and uses

Word History and Origins

Origin of cinchonidine¹

First recorded in 1850–55; cinchon(a) + -id ³ + -ine ²

Example Sentences

The British Pharmacopoeia directs that the bark, when used to make the various medicinal preparations, shall contain not less than 5 nor more than 6% of total alkaloids, of which at least one-half is to be constituted by quinine and cinchonidine.

From Project Gutenberg

A fourth alkaloid, cinchonidine, is isomeric with cinchonine, which yields it when boiled with amyl alcoholic potash, but is laevo-rotatory, slightly soluble in ether, and faintly fluorescent.

From Project Gutenberg

When red bark is extracted with dilute hydrochloric acid, the product filtered, and excess of sodium hydrate added thereto, quinine and quinidine are precipitated: on concentrating the mother liquor, cinchonine falls down, and on further concentration with addition of still more alkali, cinchonidine is thrown out.

From Project Gutenberg

The latest work on the action of these alkaloids has shown that cinchonine has a tendency to produce convulsions in certain patients, and that this action is a still more marked feature of cinchonidine and cinchonamine.

From Project Gutenberg

Quinidine is almost as powerful an antidote to malaria as quinine; cinchonidine has about two-thirds the power of quinine, and cinchonine less than one-half.

From Project Gutenberg