Chemistry of Essential Oils

114 THE CHEMISTEY OF ESSENTIAL OILS

ether, which appears to be a methyl-butenyl-dimethoxy-methylene-
dioxy-benzene, but Thorns
l
considers this ether to be a mixture of
parsley apiol with a little dill apiol. A sample distilled from Peruvian
leaves was found by Thorns
2
to contain limonene, dill apiol, and a ses-
quiterpene having a specific gravity 0*9 14, refractive index T5125, and
boiling-point 138° to 139° at 17 mm. Traces of palmitic acid were also
present.
The following oils, distilled solely from single species of matico have
been examined:—

Source.

Piper campjwrificum

3

.

„ Uneatum'.

,, acutifolium^5

6

Specific Gravity.

0-9465

0-958

1-0965

0-9355

Rotation.

+ 19° 21'

+ 8° 45'

+ 0° 24'

+ 0° 24'

Constituents.

Camphor, borneol, terpenes,

free acids, phenols, ses-

quiterpene alcohol.

Pinene, dill apiol, sesquiter-

Pinene, dill apiol, sesquiter-

pene, an alcohol C 10 H 16 O.

OIL OF BETEL.

Betel oil is distilled from the leaves, either fresh or dried, of Piper

betle (Ghavica betle Miq.). The yield is from *5 to 1 per cent., but if

the leaves are bleached by being kept in a warm shady place, the yield

may reach 4 per cent. The oil varies considerably in characters ac-

cording to the nature of the raw material, and the following results^7

have been obtained by various investigators :—

Origin.

Siam

Manila.

Java

Bombay

Manila.

Java

Specific Gravity.

1-024

1-044

0-958

0-959

0-940 at 28

°

1-0566

1-055

1-0325

Rotation.

—

- 1° 45'

+ 2° 53'

- 1° 10'

+ 0°40'

- 1° 55'

Constituents.

Betel-phenol and cadinene.

Betel-phenol.

Chavicol, betel-phenol, a sesquiterpene.

—

—

Betel-phenol, allyl-pyrocatechol, cineol

eugenol methyl ether, caryophyllene.

The refractive index of betel oil exceeds 1-5100, usually about 1*5200.

Eykman investigated the oil some years ago and stated that ifc con-

tained the phenol, chavicol (q.v.), several terpenes, a sesquiterpene, and

possibly cymene and cineol. He described it as a yellowish-green oil,

with a burning taste, and peculiar, pleasant odour. It was stated by

him to be laevo-rotatory. Bertram and Gildemeister, however, in 1890,

distilling the oil from the dried leaves, stated that the oil contained 70

1

Arch. Pharm., 242 (1904), 328. 2 Ib

i

8 d.,^247 (1909, 591.

Thorns, Apotheker Zeit., 24 (1909), 411. 4 Thorns.

• 8 Ibid, (leaves mixed with some of P. mollicomum and P. asperifolium).
  Ibid.
  7
  Gildemeister and Hoffmann, 1913, ii. 222.