— 155 — 



Notes on recent research work concerning 

 terpenes and terpene derivatives. 



General. 



R. F. Fischer 1 ), in an article entitled "Modern Methods in Perfumery", 

 reviews the history of the manufacture of synthetic odoriferous bodies 

 and essential oils. The author regards vanillin as the precursor of all 

 artificial perfumes, and briefly sketches its manufacture; next, in chrono- 

 logical sequence, he gives particulars of coumarin, heliotropin, terpineol, 

 amyl salicylate (orchidee), and a series of other synthetic products, as, for 

 instance, ionone and musk. Finally he deals with the numerous artifi- 

 cially prepared essential oils, including neroli, ylang-ylang and rose oil, 

 all first prepared by us. The interesting article closes with the ex- 

 pression of a surmise that in the future perfumers will only use artifi- 

 cial scents, presupposing of course that science succeeds in synthetising 

 all natural odoriferous bodies in the highest degree of perfection. 



The plantations of the Imperial German Biologico-Agricultural Institute 

 at Amani contain essential oil yielding plants, on which G. Badermann' 2 ) 

 has published a report. He mentions that the ylang-ylang tree (Cananga 

 odorata) flourishes excellently in the Sigi valley, and that a large number 

 of plants raised there from seed have been distributed. Camphor and 

 eucalyptus trees (Eucalyptus citriodora and E. Globulus) also grow well 

 and, with the exception of E. Globulus, have seeded. Of the sandalwood 

 trees, all but a few have perished, but fresh seed has been sown. The 

 number of Melaleuca Leucadendron trees, the plant yielding cajeput oil, has 

 been increased by fresh plantings. 



K. Fajans 3 ), in a detailed paper on the stereo-chemical specificity of 

 catalysing agents, deals, inter alia, with the splitting-off of hydrocarbon 

 from campho- 4 ) and bromocamphocarboxylic acid. He found that this 

 decomposition was accelerated in non-dissociated media of organic bases"'). 

 The author has thoroughly investigated the physical process of the reaction, 

 but we must content ourselves with this reference to the paper. 



To the publications, very few in number, which deal with the relationship 

 between the constitution and the odour of organic compounds 6 ), must 

 now be added a recent paper by G. Austerweil and G. Cochin 7 ) in which 



x ) Perfum. and Essent. Oil Record 1 (1910), 162. 

 2 ) Arch, der Pharm. 248 (1910), 259; comp. Report April 1908, 176. 



;) ) Zeitschr. f. physik. Chem. 73 (1910), 25; Verhandlungen des naturhistorischen-medi- 

 zinischen Vereins, Heidelberg, N. F. 20 (1910), 357. From a reprint kindly sent to us. 

 *) The 1-camphocarboxylic acid was prepared from 1-camphor supplied by us. 

 5 ) Comp. Report April 1906, 124. 



'') Comp. Report April 1904, 99; April 1907, 113; October 1909, 83. 

 ') Compt. rend. 150 (1910), 1693. 



