Abstract
This chapter describes alkaloids of Gelsemium species. The genus Gelsemium (Loganiaceae) consists of only three species, of which G. sempervirens Ait., the Carolina or yellow jessamine indigenous to the southeastern United States, has been extensively investigated. This plant has a history of medical use in the treatment of neuralgia and migraine, but it is now very rarely used, although it is still included in the recent British Pharmaceutical Codex. The presence of alkaloids in G. sempervirens was first established by Wormley, who extracted an amorphous base from the rhizomes and roots. Sonnenschein obtained an amorphous base, gelsemine, which was formulated, on the basis of analyses of the free base, the hydrochloride, and the platinichloricie, as C 22 H 38 N 2 0 4 . Gerrard appears to have been the first to obtain crystalline, if impure, gelsemine, which was described as a brittle, transparent solid of very low melting point. Several crystalline salts are prepared, analysis of which indicated the composition C 24 H 28 N 2 0 4 .
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