— 125 — 



As the reduction of citral to nerol, but also the oxidation of nerol 

 to citral was carried out successfully, Zeitschel concludes, on the 

 presumption that no other structure - isomeric citral is detected in 

 lemongrass oil in any appreciable quantity, that either formula III, 

 or formula IV belongs to nerol. According to Tiemann and Schmidt, 

 namely, linalool can be much more readily converted into terpin hydrate 

 by shaking with dilute sulphuric acid than geraniol; Zeitschel finds 

 for the rapidity of the terpin-hydrate-formation the relative proportion 

 1 (ger.) : 5 (lin.) : 9 (ner.), and this rapid conversion of nerol in terpin 

 hydrate, contrary to the slow behaviour of geraniol, induces the author 

 to accept for nerol formula IV, for geraniol formula III, by means of 

 which the opposite spatial arrangements of the two alcohols are most 

 naturally explained; nerol would accordingly by stereo - isomeric with 

 geraniol, citral b identical with neral, citral a with geranial. 



H. v. S o d e n and W. T r e f f x ) found in their comparative 

 examinations that artificial and natural nerol are absolutely identical. 



Cyclohexanol. If 1,2,4-, 1,3,4-, or 1,4,2-xylenol is passed over 

 reduced nickel in the presence of an excess of hydrogen, there are 

 obtained, according to P. Sabatier and A. Mailhe 2 ), the three corre- 

 sponding dimethylcyclohexanols. The conditions of the reaction are, 

 however, not the same in the three cases. 1,2,4-xylenol passes over for 

 two thirds into o- xylene boiling at 14 1°, whilst the remaining third 

 does not consist of pure dimethyl- 1,2 -cyclohexanol-4, but 2 5°/o of it 

 represent the corresponding ketone. The alcohol 



/ CH 2- CH 2\ 



CH 3 -CH( >CHOH 



)CH -CH/ 

 CH 3 / 



has the odour of cyclohexanol; b. p. 189 (corr.); djo 0,9261; 

 d~io °>9°73; n Di6° M58; the phenyl urethane melts at 119 ; by 

 oxidation with chromic acid mixture or by abstraction of hydrogen 

 over copper, there is formed from the alcohol the ketone, b. p. 187 , 

 whose badly crystallising semicarbazone melts with decomposition 

 at 1 75 . — 1,3,4-xylenol yields, in addition to dimethyl- 1,3 -cyclo- 

 hexanol-4, 



/ CH 2 — - CH 2\ 



CH 3 — CH( )CHOH 



\CH 2 -CH( 



\CH 3 



J ) Berl. Berichte 39 (1906), 1792. 



2 ) Compt. rend. 142 (1906), 553; comp. also Report October 1905, 101. 



