Deterioration of Crystalline Strophanthin in Aqueous Solution

1. Many of the glass containers commonly used in the laboratory, and most of the glass ampules employed in marketing sterile solutions for hypodermic or intravenous medication, yield sufficient alkali on autoclaving, to change the reaction of distilled water from pH 6.0 to pH 9.0. 2. This increase in alkalinity is sufficient to render biologically inert and partially to decompose aqueous solutions of crystalline strophanthin in the concentration ordinarily employed in the clinic. 3. It is suggested that for clinical use crystalline strophanthin be dissolved in 0.02 M standard phosphate solution at pH 7.0, and marketed in hard glass ampules, thereby insuring stability of reaction with preservation of biologic activity. 4. It should be borne in mind, both by laboratory worker and pharmacist, that the alkali yielded, on heating, by soft glass containers may be responsible for a considerable alteration in the hydrogen ion concentration of their contents.