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From Professor E. Sundvik 1 ) we received an interesting publication 

 on the turpentine oil (pine tar oil) produced by destructive 

 distillation. In Finland and also in Sweden, the two kinds of oil, 

 viz., the ' turpentine oil obtained by distillation with steam, and the pine 

 tar oil produced by destructive distillation, are both called "turpen- 

 tine", whilst our turpentine is in the North called turpentine balsam 

 (Pinus balsam). Now, although turpentine oil is one of the most 

 important domestic remedies over there, pine tar oil is, in the existing 

 confusion among the names, in spite of this, quite openly sold as 

 turpentine oil. 



According to Sundvik pine tar oil differs from turpentine oil — 

 apart from the smell — by its very low capacity of oxidising, and 

 also by the absence of the decrepitation with iodine, and of the formation 

 of vapours with chlorine. The first-named difference may possibly be 

 due to the presence of oxidation-preventing bodies which themselves 

 absorb oxygen preventing its becoming attached to the principal 

 constituents of the oil. The negative reactions with the halogens in 

 question must perhaps be attributed to the peculiar structure of the 

 two principal constituents of pine tar oil, sylvestrene and dipentene. 

 For the purpose of elucidating these possibilities, Sundvik examined 

 several samples of pine tar oil of various origin as to their missing 

 oxidation-capacity, the peculiar behaviour of a terpene contained in 

 pine tar oil, and the presence of oxidation-preventing bodies. By 

 treating about 10 litres oil with bisulphite, furfurol (5 g.) could be 

 detected. In the oil freed from the latter, the phenols were deter- 

 mined. The total quantity of these amounted to 30 cc, whose fraction 

 boiling at about 200 (d 1,12) yielded guaiacol (5o°/ ). In the lower 

 boiling fractions phenol was detected. 



The odour of the oil from which the aldehydes, ketones and 

 phenols have been removed, although more pleasant than that of the 

 original oil, does not by a long way come up to that of the French 

 turpentine oil. 



The distillation-residue represents a resin of a topaze-yellow colour. 

 The easy resinification of the purified pine tar oil on renewed steam 

 distillation is in Sundvik' s opinion due to the content of sylvestrene 

 and dipentene in the oil; the resinification occurs most readily when 

 shaking the oil with sulphuric acid. 



All the pine tar oils examined by Sundvik give Herzfeld's 

 reaction in an excellent manner, also after removal of the aldehydes 

 and phenols, but this is not the case with the resin remaining behind 

 in the steam- distillation when dissolved in French oil of turpentine. 

 Sundvik has arranged the results of his experiments in tabular form. The 



*) Reprint from the Festschrift fiir Olof Hammers ten. Upsala 1906. 



