UMBELLIFER^S 321
A small amount of terpenes distils between 155° and 170°, but the
greater part of the oil distils from 250° to 290°.
Semmler, Jonas, and Eoenischl have examined this oil, and have
identified the following constituents therein: linalyl acetate, eitro-
nellyl acetate, a new dihydro-sesquiterpene which has been named
ferulene, a new sesquiterpene ketone which has been named doremone,
doremyl acetate, cetyl alcohol, and an unidentified terpene boiling be-
tween 65° and 80° at 11 mm. Ferulene C 15 H 26 is a monocyclic dihydro-
sesquiterpene having the following characters :—
Boiling-point 124° to 126° at 7 mm.
Specific gravity at 20° 0-8698
Refractive index 1-48423
Optical rotation ...... +6°
It is probable that this body is not a chemical individual, but is a
mixture of about 75 per cent, of a dihydro sesquiterpene, and 25 per
cent, of a sesquiterpene not yet separated. Doremone C1 5 H 26 O is an
unsaturated aliphatic sesquiterpene ketone having the following
characters:—
Boiling-point 145° to 155° at 12 mm.
Specific gravity at 20° 0-8765
Optical rotation + 3° 30'
Refractive index 1-4716
It yields an oxime melting at 88° and a semicarbazone melting at
124 °. On reduction with sodium and alcohol, it yields the correspond-
ing alcohol, doremol C 16 H 27 OH, which occurs in the oil in the form of
its acetic ester. Doremol has the following characters :—
Boiling-point 145° to 150° at 12 mm.
Specific gravity 0*8702
Optical rotation +3°
Refractive index ...... 1*4713OLL OF ASAFCETIDA.
The gum resin of certain species of Ferula, chiefly, in all prob-
ability, Ferula Narthex, and Ferula scorodosma, both perennial herbs,
indigenous to Turkestan, Bokhara, Western Afghanistan, and Cashmir,',
yields, when distilled with water, about 3 to 20 per cent, of a some-
what foul-smelling oil. The oil has the following characters:—
Specific gravity 0915 to 0993
Optical rotation + 10° 58' to - 36°
Refractive index 1-4940 to 1-5260
Semmler^2 has investigated this oil, having separated by fractional
distillation under reduced pressure two terpenes, one of which was
probably pinene, and a sesquiterpene, which had a lavender-like odour.
The remainder of the oil consists chiefly of compounds containing
sulphur. According to Brannt, the oil contains allyl sulphide and
ailyl disulphide, but Semmler denies this. Sulphur compounds of the
formulae C 7 H 1 4S.j, C 10 H 20 S 2 , C 8 H 16 S 2 , and C 10 H 18 S 2 were found, together
with an oxygenated body of the formula C 10 H 16 O, or a multiple of this.
Umney and Bunker^3 have examined the oil from the lump asa-
foetida, and also from the tears, and arrived at the following conclu-
sions :—
llnaug. Dissert., Breslau, 1916 ; and Berichte, 1917, 50, 1823.
*Berichte, 23 (1890), 3530; 24 (1891), 78. »P. and E.O.R. (1910), 165.
VOL. I. 21