Commercial and scientific notes on essential oils. 63 



In the report on the Administration of Mysore 1 ) for the year ending June last, it 

 is stated that the sandalwood oil factories dealt with 1362 tons of sandalwood. The 

 demand for the oil was good, but the profits were small, as the prices of the wood 

 had been driven up very high in the Coorg and Madras auctions. 



As the Dutch East Indies export sandalwood and on the other hand import about 

 1000 lbs. of sandalwood oil annually from British India, the Government intends to 

 produce it in the country. A question still to be solved would be the cutting of the 

 wood into chips, in which direction experiments are going to be made. Out of 37 kilos 

 of sandalwood 1023 cc. == 2.6 per cent, of oil have been distilled 2 ). The plan seems 

 to have come to nothing, however, for according to a report of the Dutch Chamber 

 of Commerce in New York 3 ) the distillation of sandalwood oil in Java, begun during 

 the war, has been given up again, as being unprofitable. 



E. J. Parry 4 ) communicates that during the last years he frequently received from 

 reliable French or English (Indian) distillers sandalwood oils which were fit for use in 

 perfumery but the constants of which did not comply with the requirements of the 

 British Pharmacopeia. In his opinion, the distillation in such cases had either been 

 incomplete or too slow. Parry proves experimentally that a prolonged action of steam 

 on the oil altered the constants, reducing in particular the optical rotation. 



We would add that this is nothing new, for we have pointed out years ago 5 ) that 

 the decomposition products, which easily form during the distillation, alter the properties 

 of the oils and that only a very careful distillation will yield a normal product. 



Sandalwood Oil, West Indian. — Large quantities of wood have arrived of late 

 and we hope to be able before long to supply fresh oil on a larger scale. 



Oil of Satureia montana. — By steam-distillation of the not yet flowering dry herb 

 of Satureia montana, L., gathered in June in the Italian province of Aquila, P. Leone and 

 E. Angelescu 6 ) obtained 0.69 per cent, of a yellow of strong aromatic smell and burning 

 taste. By extraction of the herb with acetone and distillation of the extract with steam, 

 the authors obtained 1.63 per cent, of an oil which had the same specific gravity and 

 the same phenol content as the former. It is to be supposed, in consequence, that 

 the dry herb contains in realty at least 1.63 per cent, of oil. — The oil had the following 

 properties: — d~ 0.9053, [«] D i 7 o — 3.05°, n D160 1 .49926, acid v. 2.22, sap. v. 6.75, ester v. 4.53, 

 corresponding to an ester content of 1.58 per cent, (calculated as linalyl acetate), carvacrol 

 content 28 per cent, (nitroderivative, m. p. 77 to 78°; determined through shaking with 

 a 5 per cent, soda lye). The oil freed from the phenol contained 10 per cent, of an 

 alcohol, which has not been identified more closely (sap. v. after acet. 54.3) and yielded 

 the following fractions on repeated distillation under normal pressure: — 1. b. p. 170 to 

 180° (54 per cent.), 2. b. p. 180 to 190° (12 per cent, 3. b. p. 190 to 205° (8 per cent), 

 4. b. p. 205 to 232° (6 per cent), 5. b. p. 232 to 252° (12 per cent). After having been 

 boiled for five hours with metallic sodium, the first and second fractions yielded other 

 fractions boiling at 173 to 175° (38.1 per cent) and at 176 to 178° (20.3 per cent), 

 consisting of cymene (hydroxyisopropylbenzoic acid, m. p. 156 to 157°) and dipentene 



*) Arneric. Perfumer 16 (1921), 107. — 2 ) Chemist and Druggist 94 (1921), 406. — 3 ) Holland and her 

 colonies 1 (1921), No. 7, p. 15. — *) Parfum. moderne 14 (1921), 54. — 5 ) Comp. Report April 1908, 92. — 

 (• Gazz. ehim. Hal. 51 (1921), 11.368. 



