Resorcinum

Resorcin

Resorcin. A diatomic phenol.

History

Resorcin is a chemical compound, discovered by Hlasi-wetz and Barth, and was obtained from certain resins by the action of fusing alkalies. They assigned to the new compound the name resorcin, partly because it is derived from a resin, and partly because it has some similarity to orcin, a peculiar substance obtained from archil. Subsequently resorcin was constructed synthetically by Korner, and at the present time it is obtained in various ways, the product being both pure and cheap (Andeer).

Properties

Resorcin occurs in tabular prismatic crystals, rather shining and lustrous, somewhat sweetish to the taste, with a little after-pungncy. When struck or rubbed in the dark, it appears phosphorescent. In odor it is somewhat like phenol, but not nearly so pronounced. It is soluble at 59° Fahr. (15° C.) in 0·6 part of water, and in 05 part of alcohol, and in ether and glycerin. It is dissolved by all liquids except chloroform and carbon sulphide. Aqueous solutions exposed to the air and light assume a more or less brownish tint, but without any apparent change in quality. Albuminous liquids treated with a concentrated solution of resorcin become turbid by the formation of an albuminate of resorcin. Various secondary products are obtained from it by the action of chlorine, iodine, bromine, nitric and nitrous acids, etc. In the process by which resorcin is produced, are also hydroquinone and pyrocatechin. The best vehicles, according to Andeer, are alcohol, glycerin, and sirup of orange. The dose for usual purposes ranges from five to fifteen grains. For a decided antipyretic effect a drachm may be given, but this amount could not be frequently repeated. Five grains may be given every two hours in an ordinary case.

Antagonists

From the physiological standpoint, resorcin is antagonized by the cerebral excitants, by the agents which raise the arterial tension, and by the cardiac and respiratory stimulants—by atropine especially. The local caustic action, and the depression in the circulation and respiration, are the effects requiring attention in cases of poisoning by this substance. It is less actively toxic than carbolic acid.

Synergists

Its effects are promoted by quinine, salicylic acid, carbolic acid, etc.

Physiological Actions

Resorcin does not irritate, nor is it absorbed by the unbroken integument. The solution injected into the subcutaneous tissues produces but little irritation, and never inflammation and abscess. Applied to the moistened mucous membrane, it causes vesication, and a white blister forms, like that from carbolic acid. It has decided anti-ferment properties, arrests decomposition in animal tissues, deodorizes, and is destructive of the minute organisms on the presence of which putrefactive decomposition is dependent. A one-per-cent solution will prevent the decomposition of urine when exposed to the air for months (Andeer). Applied to unhealthy wounds, it arrests the decomposition, destroys the fetor, and promotes healthy, cicatrization (Dujardin-Beaumetz).

The action of lethal doses is necessarily to be studied on animals. Murrell has, it is true, given a good account of the symptoms produced by an overdose, but the details can be obtained only by experiments on animals. Soon after the administration of a full dose—thirty centigrammes (about five grains) of resorcin per kilogramme (about thirty-five ounces) weight of the animal experimented on—trembling begins, due to fibrillary contractions of the muscles, and this passes into general clonic convulsions of an epileptiform type. These convulsions regularly increase in severity, and, reaching their maximum in a few minutes, as regularly decline, the whole duration of this phase of the action being about two hours, sometimes longer. The spinal cord is doubtless the seat of the action, since the irritability of the peripheral nerves and muscles is diminished only, and not entirely destroyed. The general sensibility is preserved, whence it must be concluded that the action of resorcin is on the motor elements (Callias). The blood seems not to be altered in respect to its composition or properties; it presents a normal appearance, coagulates in the usual manner, and the venous blood, exposed to the air, assumes the proper red hue.

The lethal dose, according to weight, is ninety centigrammes per one kilogramme. The phenomena observed when such a dose is administered are the same as those above sketched, except that sensibility is impaired as well as motility.

Resorcin, through the action on the nervous system, affects the respiration and circulation when the dose is large. At first the respiration is greatly increased in frequency, becomes convulsive and jerking, and afterward shallow and weak but rapid. The action of the heart also becomes rapid, the pulse weak and somewhat irregular, but the respiration ceases before the action of the heart. The temperature rises, and just before death attains to 103° to 105° Fahr. This increase of the body-heat is doubtless correctly attributed to the extreme muscular action (Dujardin-Beaumetz), and not to irritation of a hypothetical heat-center. Resorcin, which acts in many respects so like quinine, however, differs from this agent remarkably in respect to the lethal effects.

When a considerable dose of resorcin (thirty to sixty grains) is administered to a person in a fever, in a few minutes a sense of heat is felt about the epigastrium, and spreads thence over the system; the face flushes and grows hot, the eyes glisten, the breathing and pulse are accelerated, and dizziness, with ringing in the ears, and frontal headache, are experienced. A good deal of discomfort, oppression of the chest, and a sense of distention of the head, are usually produced, but these sensations subside in from ten to fifteen minutes, the skin then grows moist, and in a few minutes more a profuse perspiration is pouring out on the surface of the body. The pulse then falls, coolness succeeds to heat, languor to tension, and the temperature of the body declines several degrees. If the feverish state has no special features, the lessening of the pulse and reduction of temperature to the normal occurs in about an hour. The pulse may be slowed one third, and the reduction of temperature be as much as three or more degrees of Centigrade or five degrees Fahr. (Lichtheim). The reduction of temperature in fever is of comparatively brief duration, lasting from two to four hours. When the rise of temperature begins again, a sense of chilliness is experienced, which may even take the form of a distinct rigor. Lichtheim observed great differences in the power of resorcin in different fevers. The less the tendency to spontaneous remissions, the less the antipyretic effect. The fever accompanying pneumonia and erysipelas was less amenable to the action of resorcin than was typhoid fever, but no form of fever entirely resists its action. In the normal, the action on animals and on man corresponds closely. The correspondence also exists in respect to the action in pathological states, as above stated. To the information thus obtained may be added the experiences on healthy men, as furnished us by Andeer, by Baumann and Preusse, Fauber, and others. In small doses, the circulation, respiration, and temperature are but little affected. Andeer, from a dose of ten grammes (one hundred and fifty-five grains), suffered from dizziness, confused vision, deafness, considerable salivation; presently extreme vertigo and loss of consciousness occurred, and then general clonic convulsions and tetanic rigidity of the muscles of the neck came on. There was no decline of temperature. All of the effects subsided in five hours. The preliminary stage of excitement produced by resorcin is often accompanied with excitement and delirium. In one case a deep stupor; in others, muscular trembling and incoherence of speech were observed.

The elimination of resorcin takes place almost entirely by the urine, and it is effected quite rapidly, for the greater part absorbed is excreted in an hour. The state of the kidneys, therefore, must inftuence the rate of elimination, and correspondingly the duration of the physiological or therapeutical actions. The tests for ascertaining the presence of resorcin are not sensitive for small quantities. The most easily applied is the solution of perchloride of iron, which causes, when resorcin is present, a deep violet, almost black, color.

Therapy

A close correspondence exists in the therapeutical applications of the members of the phenol group, and Lichtheim traces a distinct parallelism between their anti-fermentative and antipyretic action. Resorcin, having much less irritating property, is generally preferable to carbolic acid for internal and for subcutaneous use. In catarrh of the stomach, gastralgia, ulceration, and fermentative indigestion, Andeer reports on a series of three hundred cases in which it acted most favorably. He prescribed chiefly a three-per-cent solution. In fevers it has been given with a view both to its antiseptic and antipyretic actions. It is not a specific, and is only serviceable in the ratio in which it reduces heat. In erysipelas, puerperal fever, septicaemia, and diphtheria, resorcin may exert an antiseptic effect. For the same reason it may be applied to the treatment of ulcerative endocarditis, but in intermittent fever, in which considerable success has been achieved, it remains inferior to the cinchona alkaloids, although coming nearer to these remedies than any other in curative power.

Resorcin has been used by Dujardin - Beaumetz, Andeer, and others, with great success locally in syphilitic and other sores of an unhealthy or sloughing character. Its solution may be applied as spray in affections of the nose and throat, catarrhal, ulcerating, or specific. Andeer finds it useful in diphtheritic affections and in anthrax. The later experiences have confirmed the original reports. It is applied freely as powder by insufflation, and, as it has very slight causticity, no ill result follows, and a powerful germicide action takes place.