280 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



XIX. 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE CHEMICAL LABORATORY OF 

 HARVARD COLLEGE. 



TURMEROL. 

 By C. Loring Jackson and W. H. Warren. 



Presented October 12, 1892. 



Some years ago one of us, in conjunction with A. E. Menke, 

 described a compound obtained from the oily extract of turmeric, to 

 which the name of turmerol was given.* The present paper con- 

 tains some additional work on this substance, which we are obliged to 

 publish in an unfinished state because the departure of one of us from 

 Cambridge prevents us from continuing the work together. 



The turmerol at the time of its discovery was purified by distilla- 

 tion in vacuo, but the method used was a very imperfect one, because 

 at that time no description of the best methods now in use had come to 

 our notice, if indeed they had been described at all. Accordingly 

 when we returned to the subject we felt it was necessary to revise 

 this part of the work, and for this purpose applied to the turmerol the 

 excellent method of fractional distillation in vacuo contrived by An- 

 schutz, and soon found that the preparation studied by one of us and 

 Menke was impure, and therefore that the formula of turmerol needed 

 correction. Our analyses of a sample carefully purified and proved to 

 be homogeneous by the analyses of different fractions led to the for- 

 mula C 13 H 18 or C u H 20 O. We have been unable to determine which 

 of these is correct, because the difference between them is only 0.25 

 per cent for the carbon. This new formula agrees much better with 

 the formulas of the oxidation products already obtained than that 

 assigned to turmerol in the first paper on this subject. 



The oxidation of turmerol with dilute nitric acid converted it into 

 paratoluylic acid, which was identified by its melting point, 178°, the 

 analyses of its calcium salt and anilid, and its conversion into tereph- 



* These Proceedings, XVIII. 8. 



