NOTE ON THE PARAFFINS OF EUCALYPTUS OILS. 95 



NOTE on the PARAFFINS of EUCALYPTUS OILS. 

 By Henry G. Smith, f.c.s. 



[Read before the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, July 2, i.9/5.] 



The first member of the paraffins, belonging to the 

 aliphatic series, found in Eucalyptus oils, was isolated last 

 year from the product of Eucalyptus acervula, Hook, f ., the 

 'Red Gum' of Tasmania. The characteristic features of this 

 substance were fully described in a paper "Research on 

 the Eucalypts of Tasmania," by Mr. R. T. Baker and 

 myself. 1 This paraffin stearoptene is a saturated hydro- 

 carbon, and thus, most probable, belongs to the O n H 2n -f 2 

 group; it resembles in appearance, odour on ignition, and 

 behaviour, the solid paraffins derived from mineral oils, and 

 known generally as "paraffin wax." 



The melting point, taken by the capillary tube method, 

 of the paraffin from this species of Eucalyptus was 55 - 56° C. 

 Although the substance was isolated and purified from the 

 oil of E. acervula from material collected from two different 

 districts in the island, yet, the melting, point did not vary. 

 It is not thought, however, that it is a simple hydrocarbon, 

 but probably consists of two or more homologues. The 

 reasons for this are that the melting point does not agree 

 with any known member of the series, that the paraffin from 

 the oil of E. Smithii melts at a higher temperature, also 

 that a similar substance from rose oil, which melts at 35° C. 

 has been separated by distillation into two bodies, one 

 melting at 22° and the other at 40° O. E. acervula is not 

 the only species of Eucalyptus in which the paraffins occur, 

 and already these bodies have been isolated from the oil of 



1 Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasmania, October, 1912. 



