197 
in the manner of gathering the resin, which may permit the evaporation 
of an indefinite quantity of water, or may be caused by differences in the 
composition of the resin taken at different times of the year, or from 
trees of different ages. he residue, after distillation, is a dark-colored, 
brittle product which evidently is of little value unless it were to yield 
useful products as a result of destructive distillation. It readily and 
completely dissolves in chloroform, partially so in ether (leaving a white 
sediment), not at all in alcohol, and slowly and completely in boiling tur- 
pentine. The heating of this resin was continued and it was subjected to 
a slow destructive distillation, the t temperature being so regulated that the 
thermometer in the vapor did not run higher than 250°. The oil obtained 
as a distillate constituted 62 per cent of the original by weight and a 
very small amount of water was formed. On refractionation this prod- 
uct gave 28 per cent below 250° and 40 per cent between 250° and 300°. 
Beyond 300° the distillate was of the consistency of rosin oil. The first 
fraction was of a light-green color and contained a very small proportion 
boiling below 200°. 
The oil first obtained by direct distillation of Balao to 270°, after its 
separation from water, passed over almost completely between 260° and 
264° (760 millimeters). No low boiling oil was present. A sample 
fractioned twice under reduced pressure showed a boiling point of 151° 
to 154° at 40 millimeters. 
Its optical rotation was 78°.5 (10 centimeters, 30°) and its specific gravity 
(os) = 0-9227. It was colored a slight yellow and had the characteristic odor 
of Balao. Another purified, specimen obtained from a different sample showed the 
same boiling point. It had a rotation of +87° (10 centimeters, 30°) and a 
specific gravity of (a3 ) 0.9131. 
During the removal of this oil from the resin it was necessary to 
subject the latter to a high temperature by heating with a free flame. 
Such a process is not favorable to the isolation of a substance in the 
pure condition, and, as already stated, the oil can not be removed from 
the resin with steam; so that an expedient was resorted to which con- 
sisted of mixing it with equal parts of another non-volatile oil by which 
means it was possible to isolate the volatile matter from the resin at a 
lower temperature. Coconut oil which had been thoroughly treated with 
steam, so as to remove all traces of volatile matter, was used. 
The product so obtained redistilled at 149° to 152° (37 millimeters. It was 
light yellow in color, showed a rotation of +61.3° (10 centimeters, 30°) and a 
specifie gravity of (sas) ° 9140. 
The range in boiling point of this oil is greater than is usually shown 
by a single, pure chemical substance, but considering its origin and its 
oint of ebullition, it unquestionably is a sesquiterpene, or a mixture of 
‘) J ? 
38151—6 
