quassinn.

Brit.

/ˈkwasɪn/, U.S.

/ˈkwɑs(ə)n/

Forms: 1800s– quassiin, 1800s– quassin, 1800s– quassine.

Origin: Either (i) formed within English, by derivation. Or (ii) a borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element. Etymons: quassia n.; Latin Quassia , -in suffix¹.

Etymology: < quassia n. or its etymon scientific Latin Quassia + -in suffix¹. Compare French quassine (1827, apparently < English).The paper by Thomson (referred to in quot. 1819) describes the properties of the chemical compound, but does not use quassin or a similar term. The French word does not occur in the source translated in quot. 1819. In form quassine perhaps after the French word; in form quassiin perhaps after German Quassiin (F. L. Winkler 1835, in Repertorium f. die Pharmacie 54 89).

Chemistry.

A bitter compound isolated from the wood of Quassia amara and Picrasma excelsa (see quassia n. 1), with insecticidal, antipyretic, and other medicinal properties.Quassin is a tetracyclic terpenoid. Formula: C₂₂H₂₈O₆.It is unlikely that the pure compound was isolated before the mid 20th cent.

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the world > matter > chemistry > organic chemistry > neutral substances from plants > bitter principles > [noun]

quassin1819

colocynthin1830

plumbagin1830

colocynthite1838

quassite1838

amarine1839

rhamnin1843

maticin1844

limonin1845

serpentarin1847

rubian1848

humulin1854

pinipicrin1859

ilicin1861

physalin1863

scrophularin1868

lobelacrin1874

berberia1876

berberine1876

citrulline1882

tigline1900

1819 J. G. Children tr. L. J. Thenard Ess. Chem. Anal. vii. 288 Quassin is the bitter principle of quassia. It was examined by Thomson. Its taste is intensely bitter. It is solid, slightly transparent, and of a yellowish brown colour.

1845 Penny Cycl. Suppl. I. 349/2 Quassin dissolves readily in alcohol and in æther.

1853 A. Gray Bot. Text-bk. (ed. 4) ii. iv. 411 The wood abounds in an excessively bitter extractive principle, called Quassine.

1900 Science 10 Aug. 232/2 Heckel and Schlagdenhauffen find quassin and saponin in the seeds of Brucea Sumatrana.

1913 D. Grant tr. E. Bourcart Insecticides, Fungicides & Weedkillers xxiv. 376 To man, quassine is not poisonous, it is toxic, aperient, and stomachic.

1937 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 59 928/1 Crude quassin consists essentially of two isomeric compounds having the formula C₂₂H₃₀O₆... It is proposed to retain the name ‘quassin’ for the first isomer.

1991 Indian Jrnl. Med. Res. A. 93 324 Quassin has been identified to be the antilarval principal present in this plant and was effective against mosquito larvae at a concentration of 6 ppm.

Derivatives

ˈquassinoid n. any of a large class of compounds, many with pharmacological activity, derived from or related to quassin.

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1970 J. D. Connolly et al. in L. Reinhold & Y. Liwschitz Progr. in Phytochem. II. 389 The substances under discussion are in fact confined to three families: Meliaceae and Rutaceae (liminoids) and Simaroubaceae (quassinoids).

1997 Cancer Lett. 113 165 Short-term in vitro assays for tumor promoters and antitumor promoters..were carried out for 14 quassinoids isolated from Ailanthus altissima.

2004 W. G. Goreja Tongkat Ali v. 27 Laboratory tests to determine the killing activities of quassinoids derived from the E[urycoma] longifolia leaf against plasmodium and..schistosomiasis.

† quassite n. Obsolete = quassin n.

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