6 Report of Schimmel § Co. 1921. 



Angelica Oil. — There is an almost unprecedented scarcity of this oil. The small 

 quantities of angelica root which Thuringia supplied last autumn were too expensive 

 for profitable oil extraction. After clearing our stock of last year we are hence no 

 longer in a position to offer angelica oil. We must hope with our clients for better 

 new crops. Our own cultivations will become productive again this year. We shall 

 thus at least be in a position to cover the most urgent demands. The dry spring has, 

 however, not exactly been favourable to the development of these plants. 



Apple Oil. — As regards the chemical nature of the substances, upon which the 

 characteristic odour of ripe fruit depends, little was known so far. C. Kleber 1 ) showed that 

 ripe bananas contained amylacetate besides traces of a.phenol body; and C. Thomae 2 ) 

 made several communications concerning the products of distillation of fresh apple- 

 parings without, however, giving any detailed information concerning the quantities 

 and the nature of the substances obtained. 



The comprehensive studies of F. B. Power and V. K. Chesnut 3 ) concerning the 

 odoriferous constituents of apples will all the more more be interesting. In general it 

 may be said that the bodies, to which the aroma of fruits is ascribed, have been 

 considered to be esters, simply for the reason that various artificial compounds of this 

 type recalled in their scent certain fruit. Thus amyl valerate is known in the trade 

 as apple oil, amyl acetate as pear oil, and ethyl butyrate as pineapple oil, although 

 so far it has not been established with any degree of certainty what chemical 

 compositions the genuine apple oil, pear oil and pineapple oil may really possess. 



The authors made use of three different sorts of apples (Ben Davis, crab and 

 Springdale) which were all taken from the experimental station at Arlington, Va. The 

 fruits were highly fragrant after having been stored for some time in a cellar. They 

 were carefully pared by means of a machine in such a way that only a thin skin of 

 the inner white fruit adhered to the paring. From 805 kg. of Ben Davis apples they 

 obtained about 161 kg. of parings which were at once submitted to steam distillation, 

 without any addition of water. Altogether 163 litres of a somewhat opalescent 

 distillate were collected which clarified in a few days and deposited some solid 

 substance on the sides of the vessel. The liquid possessed the sweet fragrance 

 characteristic of fresh, ripe apples to a high degree. The first portions of the 

 distillate were neutral. 



When the aqueous liquid had been poured off, the just-mentioned solid constituents 

 were dissolved in ether. The authors thus obtained 0.04 g. of a colourless substance 

 which, dried on a porous plate, yielded thin, satiny lamina? of a melting point of 

 63 degrees. The substance probably represented triacontane, C 2 oH 6 2, not quite pure. 

 From the main portion of the distillate they further prepared by repeated distillation 

 in a current of steam one litre of a liquid in which the following compounds were 

 found: — Furfural (light-red coloration with aniline and hydrochloric acid); acetaldehyde 

 (in solutions of dimethylamine (of 33 per cent.) and sodium nitroprusside (of 1 per cent), 

 a beautiful indigo-blue colour was produced which soon turned into brown or yellow); 

 amylalcohol (about 0.00065 per cent., calculated upon the weight of the apples; oxidation 

 to valeric acid and analysis of the silver salt of the acid); traces of methylalcohol 

 (oxidation to formaldehyde by the process of Dertiges and von Fellenberg) 4 ); further, 

 formic, acetic, caproic and caprylic acids (analyses of the silver salts). 



x ) Cf. Report April 1913, 29. — -) Ibidem 28. — 3 ) Journ. Americ. chem. Soc. 42 (1920), 1509. 

 l ) Biochem. Zeitschr. 85 (1918), 45. 



