NOTES ON SOME ESSENTIAL OILS 



By SO UCHIDA, ehemist of Forest Experiment Station 



I. Hinoki Oil 



The Hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa, S. et Z.) which is extensively 

 grown in Japan furnishes a valuable timber wood of superior quality 

 and is likewise prized for the manifold uses to which the wood is 

 well adopted. Both leaves and wood contain an essential oil; the sample 

 obtained by the dry distillation of wood was sent to us through the 

 courtesy of the Forest office of Arisan Range, Formosa, where Hinoki 

 trees thrive most wonderfully forming a splendid virgin forest. The 

 Formosan species is richer in this oil than that of the Main Island. 



The oil obtained by the dry distillation of Hinoki wood is brown in 

 color and is mobile, possessing a woody and empyreumatic smell. The 

 yield of the oil sent from the producing locality, was mentioned to 

 be 2.4% of wood. The oil thus obtained was rectified by distillation 

 with steam and the subsequent treatment with dilute solution of sodium 

 carbonate. The rectified oil gives a density of dis,6= 0.8821 and [«]"= 

 -50° 37' in a 10% chloroform solution. 448 grams of the oil thus rectified 

 underwent fractional distillation under atmospheric pressure and the 

 following fractions were obtained: — 



157°— 200°C 68.5% 



200°— 240°C 8.0% 



240°— 270°C 21.5% 



The residue remaining in the distillation flask amounted to 1.5% of 

 the oil; it was a resinous substance of a reddish brown color. 



The first fraction (157°-200°C.) was almost colorless; after repeated 

 rectification by distilling it over sodium, it boiled mostly between 156°-157°. 

 Thus, the chief fraction has the density of di5.6= 0.8616, aB= + 44° 42', 

 n™ =1.4662. 



The identification of a-pinen with the fraction above obtained 

 was established by the hydrochloride of the latter (CHjoHisHCl). It is 

 noteworthy that the melting point of pinene hydrochloride was 132°.5 



