Cinchona Plant
...Generic Properties and Other Facts...
Molar Mass: 324.42
Melting Point: 57oC
Boiling Point: 66.4oC
Percent Composition by Mass:
|
Carbon |
74.05% |
|
Hydrogen |
7.46% |
|
Nitrogen |
8.63% |
|
Oxygen |
9.86% |
Percent Composition by Number:
|
Carbon |
41.6% |
|
Hydrogen |
50.0% |
|
Nitrogen |
4.1% |
|
Oxygen |
4.1% |
Type of Bonding: It is covalent bonding because it is a molecule.
Where is it found? Quinine is found in the bark of the Cinchona Tree, which is originally found in South America. Nowadays, the plant is not grown in its original environment (Peru), but instead, the trees were implanted and taken to Indonesia to be harvested in Java. When they began to die out there, they were replanted in the rainforests of the Congo, where a major amount of them are today. There are actually 40 different types of Cinchona trees, all which contain some percentage of quinine and up to 30 other alkaloids. Below is a table showing a few of the different species of Cinchona tree and their percentage of both alkaloids and quinine itself.
|
Alkaloid Content Comparison by Cinchona species |
||
|
Species |
Total Alkaloids (%) |
Quinine Content (%) |
|
C. calisaya |
3-7 |
0-4 |
|
C. pubescens |
4.5-8.5 |
1-3 |
|
C. officinalis |
5-8 |
2-7.5 |
|
C. ledgeriana |
5-14 |
3-13 |
|
C. succirubra |
6-16 |
4-14 |
Table
from
http://www.rain-tree.com/quinine.htm
How do we get it? In the beginning, we got quinine (with some impurities) by taking the bark of the tree, drying it out, and then crushing it into a white powder. More methods were used, including scraping the tree of all its bark, letting it regenerate a little, and scraping it again. This only lasted a few years, for the tree soon died and a new one was needed to be replanted. This is the reason the trees have become so rare, also. The pieces of bark are scraped off the tree and taken to places where the quinine is extracted. The bark is between 0 to 16% quinine (depending on the species), giving it a sour taste.
Cinchona Plant