Chemical Preparations and Drugs. 73 



in the conversion into vanillin. The view is entertained that the utilisation of this 

 observation would render the manufacture of vanillin much less expensive. We shall 

 have to see whether the success will correspond to the great expectations which 

 English journals place upon this news. 



According to an American communication 1 ) a hundred thousand pounds of pimento 

 leaf oil might be obtained per annum in Jamaica from waste material. 



We have in the last years repeatedly observed an adulteration of preparations 

 like coumarin, heliotropin and vanillin by the addition of inorganic salts. We have 

 already pointed out on former occasions 2 ) that such falsifications are rather clumsy, 

 since the inorganic salts can easily be recognised by their insolubility in alcohol and 

 ether, and that they would not long remain obscure even to the consumer, because 

 the aromatic substances in question are very frequently used in alcoholic solutions. 

 The thing seems to pay in spite of that, since we meet over and over again from 

 time to time with such additions. Recently we received a sample each of vanillin 

 and coumarin in our laboratory for examination in which we detected the mentioned 

 adulterations. To make a change magnesium sulphate had been used in this instance; 

 formerly it was sodium sulphate. When we treated the two samples with ether, the 

 magnesium sulphate remained quantitatively on the filter and could be detected by 

 means of its properties. The proportion amounted to 18.6 per cent, in the vanillin, and 

 to 15 per cent, in the coumarin. In both cases this was the only adulteration applied; 

 for after removal of the magnesium sulphate, both the samples showed the correct 

 melting point, vanillin 82° and coumarin 70°. 



The vanillin had been sent to us from Italy, the coumarin from Sweden. 



H. Schellbach and Fr. Bodinus have continued their investigation 3 ) of the volatility 

 of vanillin in sugar and flour mixtures 4 ). The tables of their experimental data show 

 that vanillin volatilises more easily from mixtures with crystalline sugar than from 

 mixtures with powdered dust sugar. The loss of vanillin is much influenced by the 

 way in which the mixtures are stored. To diminish the loss, the mixture should be 

 kept in cool and relatively damp places. 



Since their results agreed neither with the statements of Sprinkmeyer and Grunert, 

 nor with their own previous results, the authors conclude that not only the mode of 

 packing, but also the mode of preparation and the purity of the vanillin are of influence 

 with respect to the volatility. 



The purity of the vanillin (e. g„ the presence or absence of bourbonal [ethylproto- 

 catechuic aldehyde]) could not always be established with absolute certainty by the 

 melting point determination. 



The examination of mixtures of vanillin and flour required particular attention, 

 because the usual method (extraction of the sample with anhydrous ether) failed in 

 this case. The authors believe that a union, although loose, exists between vanillin 

 and the starch molecule, which is only imperfectly influenced by ether. The original 

 paper describes in aetail how to avoid experimental errors. 



As regards the solubility of vanillin in water and glycerin, confer page 88 of this Report. 



J ) United States Com. Rep. of 1. XI. 1920. From Journ. Soc. chem. Ind. 40 (1921), R. 13. ~— 2 ) Report 

 191S, 72. — ») Cf. Report 19*20, 77. — 4 ) Zeitschr. Untersuch..d. Nahrungsr u. Genassm. 40 (1920), 34. 



