MYRTACEJE 329
OIL OF MEUM ATHAMANTHICUM.
The fresh roots of Meum Athamanthicum yield about 0*5 per cent.- of essential oil which Schimmel & Co. find to have the following char-
acters :—
Specific gravity
Optical rotation
Refractive index
Acid value
Ester .,.
0-9807
- 1° 55'
1-51898
10-3
151-2
OIL OF CNIDIUM OFFICINALE.
The oil from the roots of this plant has been examined by Sakei.
1
He
•obtained 0'82 per cent, of a bitter oil of specific gravity 1*030 to T040.
It contains an unsaturated acid C 12 H 19 O 3 (?), an alcohol of the formula
C 10 Hi8O and possibly a lactone of the formula C 12 H 18 O 2.MYRTAC^,
MYKTLE OIL.This oil is distilled from the leaves of Myrtus communis, probably
a native of the south of Europe, although possibly it was introduced
here from Western Asia. It flourishes on the Mediterranean littoral,
especially in Spain, Italy, and the south of France. The leaves yield
from 0*25 to 0*35 per cent, of essential oil. So long ago as 1867 Glad-
stone examined this oil, but his results are of little value to-day. Jahns
has shown that this oil contains dextro-a-pinene, cineol, and a cam-
phor of the formula C 10 H 16 O. Camphene, and probably a terpene not
yet identified at present. Dipentene is present in small quantities.
Under the name " myrtol " the fraction of the oil boiling between 160°
and 170° has been introduced into commerce. It is not a definite com
pound, and probably possesses little value. Von Soden and Elze^2 have
found in the higher boiling fractions of this oil an alcohol, which they
term myrtenol. It occurs chiefly as its acetic ester.
This alcohol has been examined by Semmler and Bartelt,
3
who ob-
tained it by saponifying the higher boiling fractions of the oil and then
fractionating the same. The alcohol has the composition C 10 H 16 O and
possesses the following characters :—
Boiling-point at 760 mm....222° to 224°
j 9 mm.
Specific gravity at 20°
Optical rotation.
Refractive index.102-5°
0-9763
+ 45° 45'
1-49668
In addition to myrtenol, small quantities of the alcohols gereniol
;and nerol are present.
Myrtle oil has the following characters :—
Specific gravity 0-880 to 0-926
Optical rotation + 8° „ + 27C
Refractive index.
Acid value
Ester
(after acetylation)
1-4625
0
13
30
1-4685
2
135
190
1
Schweiz. Apotheker. Zeit., 55 (1917), 226.
2
Chem. Zeit. (1905) 1031.
3
Berichte, 40 (1907), 1363.