AMYGDALIN (from the Gr. aµurySaXrt,

See also:

• ALMOND (from the O. Fr. almande or alemande, late Lat. amandola, derived through a form amingdola from the Gr. l uybian, an almond; the al- for a- is probably due to a confusion with the Arabic article al, the word having first dropped the a- as in the It

almond), C2  ,3H27NO11, a glucoside isolated from bitter almonds by H . E . Robiquet and A . F . Boutron-Charlard in 183o, and subsequently investigated by Liebig and Wohler, and others . It is extracted from almond cake by boiling alcohol; on evaporation of the solution and the addition of ether, amygdalin is precipitated as white minute crystals . Sulphuric acid decomposes it into d-glucose, benzaldehyde and prussic acid; while hydrochloric acid gives mandelic acid, d-glucose and ammonia . The decomposition induced by enzymes may occur in two ways . Maltase partially decomposes it, giving d-glucose and mandelic nitrile glucoside, C6H5CH(CN)O•C6H11O5; this compound is isomeric with sambunigrin, a glucoside found by E . E . Bourquelot and Danjou in the berries of the common elder, Sambucus nigra . Emulsin, on the other hand, decomposes it into benzaldehyde, prussic acid, and two molecules of glucose; this enzyme occurs in the bitter almond, and consequently the seeds invariably contain free prussic acid and benzaldehyde .

An " amorphous amygdalin " is said to occur in the

cherry-laurel . Closely related to these glucosides is dhurrin, C14H1707N, isolated by W . Dunstan and T . A . Henry from the common sorghum or " great millet," Sorghum vulgare; this substance is decomposed by emulsin or hydrochloric acid into d-glucose, prussic acid, and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde .