Chemistry of Essential Oils

524 THE CHEMISTEY OF ESSENTIAL OILS

oil, the aroma of which was inferior, due probably to the low condition of

the seeds. The laboratory figures of the oils from the first and second

samples were:—

First Sample. Second Sample.

Specific gravity —"-^.. '849 *8592

Optical rotation15 0.

Acid value

Ester value—

Before acetylation

After

• 44-7° at 20° C. - 57*8° at 25° C.
  1-2 1-4

1-9 6-4

.. 52-9 33-50
Soluble in 90 per cent, alcohol In 6 or more vols. In 4'5 or more vols.
Thorns
1
obtained a yield of 7 per cent, of oil from the seeds, which
had a specific gravity of 0896 and optical rotation - 585°. The oil,
from which traces of free acids and phenols were first removed, was
fractionated in vacuo.
The terpene fraction had the specific gravity 0*842 at 20° and consisted
chiefly of limonene ; boiling-point 74° to 76° at 16 mm.; aD = - 105

• 68°,
  and [aJD = - 125*5°; melting-point of the nitrosochloride 103° to 105°.
  In the third fraction, which represents 20 per cent, of the oil, and which
  boils at 110° to 116° (at 16 mm.), a body C 10 H 16 O could be detected, which
  is probably identical with myristicol.
  Schimmel & Co. obtained 5


• 
  

  37 per cent, of essential oil from the seeds,
  which had the following characters: dlbo = 0859; aD = - 117° 40'; acid
  number = 136; ester number = 3

  
  


• 
  

  4; ester number after acetylation
  2711. Soluble in about 4 volumes and more 90 per cent, alcohol. It
  consisted chiefly of phellandrene.
  Leimbach has examined the corresponding oil from the seeds of
  Monodora grandiflora. This oil has the following characters :—
  Specific gravity 0 8574
  Optical rotation - 46° 15'
  Acid value 3-9
  Saponification value....... 7 to 12
  It contains Z-phellandrene, camphene (?), j9-cymene, palmitic acid,
  carvacrol (?), an uninvestigated compound of the formula C 10 H1 6 0 (specific
  gravity 0935; optical rotation - 9° 14'; and boiling-point 130° to 154° ;
  which suggests that the body is not a chemical individual); a sesquiter-
  pene (specific gravity 09138; optical rotation + 24°; and refractive
  index 15051), and a crystalline body melting at 160° to 163°.

  
  

PITTOSPORACE^E.

OILS OF PLTTOSPORUM.

The fruit of Pittosporum undulatum, a plant indigenous to South-

east Australia, yields, according to Power and Tutin,

2

0*44 per cent, of

essential oil, whose characters are as follows :—

Specific gravity 0*8615

Optical rotation + 74° 4'

The oil contains d-a-pinene, d-limonene, traces of palmitic acid, sali-

cylic acid, and a phenol, small quantities of esters of formic and valerianic

acids, and a sesquiterpene of specific gravity 0*910, and refractive index

1*5030.

1

Ber. deutsch. pharm. ges., 14 (1904), 24.

2

Jour. Ckem. Soc., 89 (1906), 1083.