Chemistry of Essential Oils

LAUBACE.ZE 151

It contained 85 per cent, of eugenol, the non-phenolic portion of the oil

having a specific gravity 0-9343. Safrol could not be detected.

The essential oil distilled from a bark shipped from the Dutch East

Indies, and known there as " Lawang " bark, has been examined by

B. W. Mann. According to Holmes the bark is one of those passing

under the name of massoi bark, and is] derived , from Cinnamomum

Litrea or an allied genus.

The oil has the following characters :—

Specific gravity 1-0104

Rotation at 20° - 6-97°

Refractive index at 20° 1*5095

Acid value 1*15

Saponification value 43*02

Ester value 41*87

Saponification value of acetylated oil 121*91

A portion of the oil was distilled under reduced pressure (35 mm.),

three fractions being collected :—

Specific

Fraction (i) below 180° 35*5 per cent.... 0-9335 1-4828

(ii) 180° to 220° 37'0 „ ... 1*0103 1-5118

„ (iii) 220° „ 228° 21*0 „ ... 1-0934 1-5402

A crystalline acid, melting-point 51° to 52°. was separated.

OIL OF KUROMOJI,
The leaves and young twigs of Lindera sericea, one of the Japanese
Lauracea, yield the oil known in commerce under this name. It is a
dark yellow oil with a strong aromatic and balsamic odour, of specific
gravity from 890 to 915, usually about 900, and faintly laevo-rotary.
It has been examined by Kwasnik,^1 who states that it contains dextro-
limonene, dipentene, inactive terpineol, and laevo-carvone. The oil, on
account of its comparatively low price, has recently come into some
favour as an aromatic.
Schimmel & Co. have examined a sample distilled by themselves and
found it to contain 95 per cent, of esters calculated as geranyl acetate.
Distilled at 4 mm. pressure, it yielded the following fractions :—
Temperature. Rotation.
35° to 40° - 22° 26'
40° ., 45°
45°.
55°
66°
70°
78°

50°

66°

70°

78°

81°

15°

9°

1°

1°

3°

12°

6°

44'

38'

56'

56'

37'

Residues 10'
Linalol was detected in the oil, as well as geranyl acetate.
According to Shinohara
2
this oil contains 1141 per cent, of esters;
20'21 per cent, of free alcohols ; 771 per cent, of cineol; 50*98 per cent,
of terpenes, with traces of a phenolic substance and free acids; and
aldehydes and ketones 9

• 17 per cent. The alcohols consisted chiefly of
  linalol 11 43 per cent, and geraniol 716 per cent.
  Schimmel & Co.
  3
  have examined samples of Kuromoji oil distilled

lArch. der 3 Pharm., 230 (1892), 265.^2 Chem. Ind. Japan (1915), 18, 417.

Schimmel's Bericht, April, 1904, 98; and (1907), 67.