154: PROCEEMNGS OF SECTION B. 



to podocarpic and rimuic acids are correct. Pure podocarpic acid was 

 prepared, from a sample of the Java resin kindly supplied by Dr. 

 Treub, Director of the Botanical Gardens at Buitenzorg. In each case 

 the resin was treated with ether, and after removal of the solvent the 

 residue was crystallised from dilute alcohol until a product of constant 

 melting point was obtained. 



The resin of Fodocarpus spicata was found to be practically in- 

 soluble in ether; it, therefore, contained no podocarpic acid {see fol- 

 lowing communication on matai-resinol). 



The product obtained from Fodocarpus cupressina was found to 

 be identical in composition, in melting point (192 degrees, uncor- 

 rected), and in specific rotation (136 degrees), with the acid from 

 Fodocarpus dacridioides and from Dacridium cupressinum ; titration 

 with standard alkali gave in each case a molecular weight correspond- 

 ing to the fOmiula ascribed by Oudemans. Rimuic acid being thus 

 identical with podocarpic acid, its name should be deleted from 

 chemical literature. 



10.— MATAI-EESINOL. 



By T. H. EAST'^RFIELD and JAMES BEE, MA., M.Sc. 



[Abstract.] 



The Matai f Fodocarpus spicata, natural order Taxacese), is^ a 

 fine timber tree occun'ing freely in the forests of the North and South 

 Islands of New Zealand. The timber is straight in the grain, and is 

 chiefly used for floor boards. The heartwood of old trees often 

 exhibits cracks or shakes, and these are not infrequently lined with a 

 yellow deposit sometimes amorphous, at others exhibiting a crystalline 

 structure. This deposit is almost insoluble in ether, but dissolves 

 fairly easily in hot alcohol, from which it separates in a crystalline 

 state on cooling the solution. 



Analysis and molecular weight determinations show that the care- 

 fully purified substance has the formula C19H20O7; it is thus isomeric 

 with pinoresinol, a compound discovered by Bamberger in the resins of 

 Finns laricio and Ficea vulgaris, and the name Matai-resinol is pro- 

 posed for it. 



Matai-resinol resembles pinoresinol in many respects; both com- 

 pounds contain two hydroxjd groups and two methyl groups. The 

 most marked difference lies in the behaviour with potash. Matai- 

 resinol yields no sparingly soluble potash salt, whereas the potash salt 

 of pinoresinol is sparingly soluble even in boiling alcohol. 



Matai-resinol melts at 119 degrees, its specific rotation (a) in 

 acetine solution is 4:'89 degrees, and Is practically independent of the 

 concentration. From alcohol it crystallises with one molecule of 

 alcohol of crystallisation. It is a lactone and. the corresponding oxy- 

 acid can be prepared by adding acetic acid to the cold solution of the 

 substance in caustic soda. The oxy-acid is immediately reconverted 

 to the lactone by the action of mineral acids. 



