THE 

 LONDON, EDINBURGH and DUBLIN 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



[THIRD SERIES.] 

 AUGUST 1848. 



XIV. On (Enanthal, its Compounds, and the Products of its 

 Decomposition. By Thomas George Tilley, Esq.* 



THE volatile liquid obtained when the oil of Ricinus com- 

 munis is distilled, consists, as was shown by Bussy, of a 

 substance analogous to aldehyde, bearing the same relation to 

 cenanthylic acid which aldehyde bears to acetic acid. Bussy 

 analysed oenanthal, and described the method employed by 

 him in its preparation, but did not further investigate the 

 matter. It is easily prepared in a pure state and in large 

 quantities by simple distillation of castor-oil. The oil which 

 passes over is mixed with a large quantity of water, and, with 

 it, distilled again. This process separates the oenanthal from 

 certain fatty acids not volatile with water; but it is still impure 

 from admixture of acroleine and other substances of unknown 

 nature. To expel the acroleine, which is exceedingly volatile, 

 the fluid is heated in a water-bath to 100°, and a stream of 

 carbonic acid passed through it until it has lost the well-known 

 and intensely powerful odour of that substance. The tempe- 

 rature is then raised in an oil-bath to 155°, when the fluid 

 commences to boil, and continues in ebullition until more than 

 two-thirds are distilled. The product of this distillation is 

 pure oenanthal, containing traces of water which it dissolves 

 in considerable quantities, and from which it may be separated 

 by chloride of calcium. 



Thus obtained, oenanthal possessed all the properties 

 ascribed to it by Bussy ; and the analyses made by me agree 

 with those of that chemist. 



0-2570 gave carbonic acid 0*6795, and water 0*2940, giving 

 per cent., — 



* Communicated by the Author. 

 Phil. Mag. S. 3. Vol. 33. No. 220. Aug. 1848. G 



