OCCURRENCE OF A NEW PHENOL. 49 



ON THE OCCURRENCE OF A NEW PHENOL IN THE 

 ESSENTIAL OILS OP THE u LEPTOSPERMUM." 



By A. R. Penfold, f.c.s. 



[Read before the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, June i, 1921. ~] 



In the course of an investigation on the esssential oil 

 obtained from the leaves and terminal branchlets of 

 Leptospermum flavescens it was found to contain a phenolic 

 body which varied in amount according to the different 

 localities from which the material was collected. In the 

 oil obtained from material growing in the Lane Cove dis- 

 trict it was found that when separated in the usual manner 

 using an iron coil in the condenser it was so dark in colour 

 that it was impossible to determine its optical characters. 

 On using a coil of pure tin, however, the crude oil was of 

 a brownish yellow colour. On clearing up the oil by means 

 of a 3% aqueous solution sodium hydroxide no less than 8% 

 by weight of the phenol was obtained. The amount thus 

 present in the oil of this species varied according to the 

 district from which the material was collected, viz: — 



District. Datp. Phenol in Crude Oil. 



Longueville (Lane Cove) 18/11/20 8% 



Ditto ditto 27/1/21 8% 



Hill Top, N.S.W. 26/2/21 0*75% 



Kuring-gai 21/3/21 2*7% 



Blackheath, N.S.W. 15/4/21 1% 



Unfortunately, the locality yielding the phenol in highest 

 amount was rather sparse as regards quantity of material 

 on account of the rapidity with which it is being cut out 

 due to the spread of population. Altogether, however, 

 about 60 grams of the phenol was obtained by treating the 

 crude oils with 3% aqueous solution sodium hydroxide, 

 removing the non-phenolic bodies by repeatedly washing it 



D— June 1, 192L 



