8 Report of Schimmel § Co. 1921. 



We should finally emphasise that amylvalerate, the so-called apple oil, is not 

 a constituent of the apple paring. The characteristic odour is exclusively due to the 

 compounds which have been identified in this research. Small differences in the aroma 

 are to be ascribed to different proportions of these compounds. 



Oil of Artemisia annua. — In a second research on the artemisia-ketone 

 Y. Asahina and S. Takagi 1 ) state that the body Ci Hi 6 O, which they had previously 2 ) 

 isolated from Artemisia annua, L. and which they had called artemisia ketone, further 

 contains an isomeride, an iso-artemisia ketone. From the mother liquor of the artemisia 

 ketone-semicarbazone they were able to isolate the semicarbazone of this new iso- 

 ketone (m. p. of the hydrated compound 70 to 72°, of the anhydrous 103° to 104°). 

 The free iso-artemisia ketone; b. p. 182 to 183°; dg 0.8711; [«1 D ±0; n DHO 1.4688; mol. 

 refr. 47.425 (calculated for Ci H 26 O/r 47.45) ; resembled in its physical properties the 

 artemisia ketone; the catalytical reduction yielded a tetrahydro-derivative, which was 

 identical with the tetrahydro-artemisia ketone. Oxidised with dichromate and sulphuric 

 acid the latter gave dimethylmalonic acid, in addition to acetone (?) 3 ) and acetic acid. 

 The artemisia ketone itself yielded with potassium permanganate considerable amounts 

 of dimethyl-malonic acid. Heated with alcoholic sulphuric acid the ketone passed 

 quantitatively into the iso-compound. The authors, therefore, conclude that the two 

 isomerides differ only with respect to the position of the double bond and that the 

 compounds have the following constitutional formulae: — 



CH 3 



CH 3 



CH 3 -C-CO-CH 2 -C< * 

 1 X CH 2 



pu 



CH 3 — C — CO — CH = C/ ' 

 1 X CH 3 



CH 2 = CH 



CH 2 =CH 



Artemisia ketone. 



Jso-artemisia ketone. 



Oil of Artemisia glutinosa. — C. T. Bennett 4 ) reports on an essential oil of a 

 species of artemisia, which was not known so far and which grows in Murcia, Spain, 

 Artemisia glutinosa, Gay. The oil has a pleasant aromatic odour which recalls a mixture 

 of the oils of sage, rosemary, and spikenard and which has the following constants: — 

 d 0.937; « D + 24°; n D20O 1.4780; soluble, in 1 to 2 vol. of alcohol of 80 per cent, (turns 

 turbid with more alcohol); ester (calculated as bornylacetate) 6.3 per cent; total 

 alcohol (calculated as borneol) 17.5 per cent.; phenols 8 per cent.; aldehydes and 

 ketones 18 per cent. 



Of this oil, which began to boil at 175°, 52 per cent. 'distilled below 200°. It con- 

 sisted to a large degree of terpenes, probably of terpinene or dipentene; pinene was 

 not present; the phenols (methylchavicol?) gave with iron chloride a violet coloration. 

 Thujone was not found, but a small quantity of a pleasant-scented aldehyde was isolated. 

 Bennett mentions that this only species of artemisia of Spanish origin so far known 

 to yield an essential oil, which consists almost completely of thujone, was Artemisia 

 Barrelieri, Bess. It should be pointed out, however, that Bernabe Dorronsoro has 

 recently also investigated the essential oil of wormwood plant cultivated in Malaga 5 ) 

 and has found in this 57.50 per cent, of thujone (cf. page 83 of this Report). 



x ) Yakugakuzasshi (Journ. pharm. Soc. of Japan) No. 464. 1920, 873. Reprint was kindly sent to us. — 

 2 ) Cf. Report 1918, 8. — 3 ) The note of interrogation is taken over from the original paper. — 4 ) Perf. t 

 Record 11 (1920), 286. — *) The plant source is not further specified. 



