342 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



August, 



RECENT PROGRESS IN DENDRO-CHEMISTRY. 



REVIEW OF RECENT ARTICLES IN LEADING CHEMICAL JOURNALS. 



By WilIvIAM H. Krug, 

 Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



WHITE Peru Balsam. A. Biltz 

 (Chem. Ztg., 26, 436). Author 

 reports preliminary results of his in- 

 vestigations. He has isolated : (a) A 

 white body insoluble in absolute alcohol 

 and ether, M. P. = i2o-i3o C, soluble 

 in benzol, acetic ether, and chloroform ; 

 (<^) freecinnamic acid ; ( r) a compound 

 soluble in 5 per cent sodium carbonate 

 solution, crystallizing from dilute alco- 

 hol in needles, M. P. = 260 C, and (d) 

 a brownish-yellow body which can be 

 extracted with i per cent potassiiun 

 hydrate solution and on saponification 

 with alcoholic potash yields cinnamyl 

 alcohol, cinnamic acid, and a colorless, 

 pleasant-smelling oil , C.,H,uO or C.,oH^0 , 

 B. P. = ii2 C, D''^=o.9433. 



West Indian Sandalwood Oil. Ernst 

 Deussen (Arch. d. Pharm., 240, 288). 

 The author has continued his investiga- 

 tions, and by fractionation of the lower 

 boiling portions of the oil has obtained 

 two distillates which consist of ses- 

 quiterpenes. The new sesquiterpene, 

 Ci^H^^, is an odorless oil, B. P.^^i39- 

 141 C, D''=o.902, (a) about 5. 

 The higher boiling sesquiterpene is 

 dextro-cadinene, CisHj^, odorless and 

 colorless liquid, 0*^=0.9247, a= + 50, 

 nu=i.5io8, B. P.=26o-26i C, B^P.,g 

 = i53-i54 C. This sesquiterpene 

 resinifies more readily than levo-cadi- 

 nene and yields the hydrochloride of 

 the latter when treated with h3'dro- 

 chloric acid. Between these two hydro- 

 carbons there is another fraction con- 

 sisting of sesquiterpenes, which also 

 resinifies very readily and yields no 

 crystalline hvdrochloride, B. P..,p=i so- 

 152 C.,D'^=o.9i4,a=+io-i"5. West 

 Indian sandalwood oil contains from 

 30-40 per cent of sesquiterpenes. 



The Formation of Camphor in the 

 Camphor Tree. A. Tschirch and H. 

 Shirasawa (Arch. d. Pharm., 240, 257). 



Camphor is a conversion product of an 

 ethereal oil formed in the oil cells pres- 

 ent in all parts of the tree. These cells 

 are present very early in the life of the 

 tree, and are developed as in the other 

 Eaurinacese. At first the oil in the 

 cells is yellow, later on colorless, and 

 easily volatilized. In the latter condi- 

 tion it readily separates camphor, and 

 from the oil cells the camphor is dis- 

 tributed throughout the whole woody 

 tissue. The number of oil cells depends 

 on climatic conditions and the locality. 

 The Resin of Picea vulgaris. A. 

 Tschirch and M. Koch (Arch. d. 

 Pharm., 240, 272). The crude resin 

 was soluble in ether, leaving a consid- 

 erable residue, consisting of impurities. 

 The purified resin was a reddish-brown 

 mass, soluble in alcohol, benzol, chlo- 

 roform, acetic ether acid number, 

 1 1 5-1 23; saponification number, 129; 

 iodin number, 54.36. Dry distillation 

 yielded formic, acetic, and succinic 

 acids. The purified resin was found 

 to contain (a) picipimaric acid, 3 per 

 cent, Ci._,H,nO., ; amorphous powder, 

 M. P. = 130-! 35 C, soluble in ether, 

 alcohol, benzol, insoluble in water 

 acid number, about 288 ; iodin num- 

 ber, 64 ; {b) piceapimaric acid, 2 per 

 cent, C,oH,0, ; crystalline, M. P.^i45 

 C. , inactive ; soluble in usual solvent.s 

 acid number, 187 ; iodin number, 35.5 ; 

 {c) a- and /J- picipimarolic acids, 47 per 

 cent, both inactive, amorphous, sep- 

 arated by means of their lead salts, 

 -acid M. P. = 95-96 C, ,5 -acid 

 M. P.=93-94 C. ^acid number, 200- 

 207 ; iodin number, 46 ; {d ) picore- 

 sene, 15 per cent, C,,|H.j0 ; white pow- 

 der, M. P. = go-95 C. ; soluble in 

 usual solvents ; (.?) ethereal oil, 30 per 

 cent, B. P. = i75-i8o C, 0=0.870, 

 yellow, mobile ; (/) traces of a bitter 

 principle and a coloring matter. 



