— 71 — 



Guaiac wood Oil. We always have at our disposal ireshly-distilled 

 oil, such as is required for perfumery purposes, and we are able to offer 

 special advantages for large quantities. This article, it may be pointed 

 out, has become practically indispensable, especially in the manufacture 

 of toilet-soaps. 



Gurjun balsam Oil. In our last Report we mentioned that Deussen 

 and Philipp 1 ), by oxidising gurjun balsam oil with permanganate of potassium 

 in acetone solution, had obtained a ketone or aldehyde, the semicarbazone 

 of which might possibly be of use in detecting the presence of gurjun balsam. 

 The authors 2 ) have recently continued their investigation with the following 

 results. It has long been known that gurjun balsam oil consists almost 

 wholly of a sesquiterpene, for which the name "gurjunene" has been suggest- 

 ed. By repeated fractionation a sample (di 7 o 0,922; « 17Q — 44°25') was split 

 up in several portions with rotations from — 61° to +1°) b. P- 124 3 A to 

 138 3 4° (12 mm.). The portions with the lower b. p. consisted of a hydro- 

 carbon, to which Deussen and Philipp give the name of «-gurjunene, while 

 the hydrocarbon of the higher-boiling fractions was called /^-gurjunene. 

 ^-Gurjunene boils at about 119° (12 mm.) and is strongly lasvorotatory; 

 determination of the mol. refraction showed it to be tricyclical. /^-Gurjunene 

 boils at 122,5 to 123,5° (12 mm.), and is slightly dextrorotatory and 

 bicyclical. By oxidising with permanganate of potassium in acetone solution 

 both hydrocarbons yield a ketone (?) Q5H24O which, when regenerated 

 from its semicarbazone (m. p. 234°) possesses the following constants: 

 b.p. 175 to 178° (12 mm), d 1,0160, « + 120 to +130°, n D 1,5303, b. p. of 

 the oxime 204° (12 mm.). 



When rectified gurjun balsam oil, that is to say a mixture of «- and 

 ^-gurjunene, is saturated in ethereal solution with hydrochloric acid gas, 

 and the mixture is left standing for 2 days at room-temperature, the result 

 (after the hydrochloric acid has been abstracted with sodium acetate), is 

 a bicyclical hydrocarbon (b. p. 129,5 to 132° (12 mm.); d 0,9183; n D 1,5057), 

 to which the authors give the name "tsogurjunene". 



Hop Oil. With regard to this article it is only necessary to state 

 that the crop-prospects this season are favourable, and that therefore 

 low prices, although possibly not so low as in 1908, are to be expected. 

 We therefore hope that in the course of the next few months we shall 

 be able to replenish our exhausted stocks under advantageous conditions, 

 and that we shall then be in a position to make a corresponding reduction 

 in the prices. 



The following table gives the estimate of the present crop compared 

 with the yields of 1909 and 1908: — 



x ) Liebigs Annalen 369 (1909), 56; Report April 1910, 146. 



2 ) Liebigs Annalen 374 (1910), 105; Chem. Ztg. 34 (1910), 921. 



