N. O. ABOIDEJE 91
properties: boiling-point 123° to 126° (10*5 mm.); d'^ 0-9224 ; aD + 5°;
nn 1
- By treatment with hydrogen in the presence of platinum
black two double bonds were saturated, giving rise to tetrahydrocala-
mene, C 15 H 28 , boiling-point 123° to 125° (10 mm.); dg° 08951; aD ± 0°;
»„ 1-48480.
They also obtained a fraction (boiling-point 150° to 160° at 13 mm.;
d28o 09611; MD 1*5098) of which the analysis pointed to the presence of
a substance C 15 H 24 O. This body appears to be a tertiary alcohol which
readily separates water. Water was invariably eliminated from it, when
it was boiled with acetic anhydride, or treated with phthalic anhydride or
with zinc dust in a sealed tube. When boiled for a short time with con-
centrated formic acid the body C 15 H 24 O affords a hydrocarbon, cala-
menene, C 15 H 22 , boiling-point 136° to 143° (15 mm.); d^ 0 0-9324; aD + 6° ;
- By treatment with hydrogen in the presence of platinum
WD 152317.
As a result of these investigations Semmler and Spornitz regard it
as highly improbable that the hydrocarbon C 15 H 22 described by Thorns
and Beckstroem
l
is a natural constituent of calamus oil; they consider
it to have been produced by the splitting-off of water from the body
C 15 H 24 0.
A sesquiterpene alcohol, C15H24O, of specific gravity 09688 at 20°,
optical rotation + 8°, and refractive index 1*5126, was also isolated, but
has not yet been named.
Japanese calamus oil is distilled from the rhizome of the same plant
according to Asahina,
2
although Holmes
3
considers the plant to be
Acorus spurius.
At all events the Japanese oil differs from that distilled in Europe.
It has the following characters :—
Specific gravity. 0'970 to 0-995
Optical rotation
Refractive index
Acid value.
Ester „
,, (after acetylation)
- 12°
1-5095
0
1
16
+ 25°
1-5175
2
10
28
It is soluble in an equal volume of 90 per cent, alcohol.
The Japanese oil appears to be free from terpenes, but it contains
methyl-eugenol.
A calamus oil distilled by Dr. Carthaus in Java has been examined
at the Botanical Institute in Buitenzorg. It possessed the following
constants: d26o 1*06 ; aD + 0° 52'; saponification number 9.
Schimmel & Co.
4
have examined two calamus oils from the same
source which behaved very similarly. They had a yellow colour and a,
faint calamus odour. The constants of the one were: d}5o 10783;
aD + 0° 53'; no 200 1-55043 ; ester number 12 ; of the other : d 150 10771;
aD + 0° 51'; nPWo 1 55065. The oils here referred to differ from ordinary
calamus oil in their greater specific gravity, their much lower rotation,
and their higher index of refraction. In normal calamus oil these
values range within the following limits: d 150 096 to 0
- 97; aD + 9° to
- 35°; w
D
20o about 1506. Moreover, the Javanese oils are soluble (with
slight separation of paraffin) in 1 to 15 volumes of 70 per cent, alcohol,
while ordinary calamus oil is only soluble in 90 per cent, alcohol (in
almost every proportion).
lBericht, 46 (1913), 3700. 2Apotheker Zeit., 21 (1906), 987.
(^3) Ph. Jour., iii. 10 (1879), 102. 4 Report, April, 1909, 21.