Antibiotic Substances Separated from Sumac.

It has become evident (Osborn, 1943; Lucas and Lewis, 1944) that higher plants are potential sources of antibiotic agents. Several investigators (Little and Grubaugh, 1946; Atkinson and Rainsford, 1946; Sanders, Weatherwax, and McClung, 1945) have reported antibiotic effects of juices and of crude extracts of plants on various microorganisms. The active materials can be separated in some degree of purity (Cavallito, Buck, and Suter, 1945; Cavallito, Bailey, and Kirchner, 1945; Heatley, 1944), and there is evidence that the agents so obtained can be introduced into the animal body and will control experimental infections (Carlson, Bissell, and Mueller, 1946). In screening several hundred plants (Carlson, Douglas, and Robertson, 1948) the authors observed that a species of sumac contained an antibiotic agent extractable in aqueous solutions. In later work this or similar agents were obtained from sumac by extraction with ethyl ether. It is the purpose of this paper to report the antibiotic activity of partially purified extracts from a species of sumac, Rhus hirta.