CKYSTALLINE CAMPHOR OF EUCALYPTUS OIL. 



107 



The comparative ease with which oxidising agents act upon the 

 eudesmol molecule, together with its instability, denote its suscep- 

 tibility to attack, the tendency evidently being for the oxygen 

 atom to become divalent, or in its most stable form. If we accept 

 the possibility that the first action of the oxidising agent is to 

 destroy the symmetry of the molecule by attacking it in its weakest 

 point, the oxygen atom becoming attached to one of the three 

 lower carbon atoms, then the chain would be broken and camphor- 

 onic acid as trimethyltricarballylic acid could be constructed from 

 eudesmol. 



CH 



I 

 



HoC- 



hc: 



CH.-C-CH.. 



I 

 o ^ 



i 



Eudesmol. 



CH, 



CH 



Off, 



COOH COOH 

 Camphoronic acid. 



