Chemical Preparations and Drugs. 93 



Camphor. — D. A.Wallace and S. B. Plumer 1 ) determined the amount of camphor 

 in camphorated oils by heating the solution in cotton-seed oil for three hours, that in 

 pea-nut or olive oils for four hours and that in sesame oil for five hours up to 120° 

 and calculated the camphor content from the loss in weight. Camphorated oils are 

 oxidized on heating and increase in weight. This increase in weight, which has been 

 determined by the authors in certain cases, has to be taken into account when 

 calculating the camphor content. 



The authors further recommend the already known method 2 ) of determining the 

 the camphor content in camphorated oils by means of the optical rotation. 



Castoreum. — At the annual auction in London, the Hudson Bay Company offered 

 in December 1921 2649 lbs. of Canadian castoreum, of which 575 lbs. were sold. Of the 

 Oregon quality 2932 lbs. were available, of which 1170 lbs. were disposed of 3 ). 



Coumarin. — According to a process invented by W. Ponndorf 4 ) coumarins are 

 obtained by condensing phenols or phenol ethers with fumaric or maleic acids under 

 the influence of condensing agents such as zinc chloride, or aqueous or alcoholic 

 73 per cent, sulphuric acid, at a temperature not below 120°. The condensation of fumaric 

 acid with phenols passes off by union of a hydrogen atom in ortho position of the 

 phenol with one of the two COOH-groups of the acid, with formation of formic acid, 

 and by ring-formation of coumarin from the resulting coumaric acid. 



T. Yanagisawa and H. Kondo 5 ), in preparing coumarin, make use of iodine as 

 catalyst, and obtained, when boiling salicylic aldehyde, acetic anhydride, and sodium 

 acetate for four hours in an oil both, a yield of 70 per cent, crude coumarin. 



G. C. Bailey and F. Boettner 6 ), when endeavouring to prepare methylcoumarin from 

 malic acid and w-cresol, found the method devised by Fries and Klostermann 7 ) to be 

 the most successful one. They obtained the highest yield (54 per cent.) of methylcumarin 

 when malic acid was added slowly to a the mixture of m-cresol and sulphuric acid 

 heated to 135°, the reaction product then poured on ice, and the precipitate formed 

 taken up in 50 per cent, alcohol and crystallised from this solvent. A m-cresol of 

 84 per cent, yielded about 40 per cent, of methylcoumarin. 



Toxicity tests carried out with mice proved methylcoumarin to be not more than 

 one-tenth as toxic as coumarin. As to the perfume value, dilute solutions of methyl- 

 coumarin were said to be of almost the same odour as those of natural coumarin. The 

 odour of the dry crystals, however, was considerably less intense than with natural or 

 synthetic coumarin. 



Eucalyptole. — The cresineol method for the determination of cineole devised by 

 T. Tusting Cocking 8 ) gives, according to recent statements 9 ) of the author, satisfactory 

 results if the amount of cineole present in the sample reaches 45 per cent, and upwards. 

 When the amount of cineole present falls below 45 per cent, the method must be 

 modified insofar that a certain amount of pure cineole, or an equivalent amount of 



*) Americ. Pharm. Journ. 93 (1921), 600. — 2 ) Cf. Reports April 1915, 73; 1918, 92. Some angles of 

 rotation are given for the oils mentioned, with and without camphor. — 3 ) Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter 

 101 (1922), No. 1, p. 32. — *) Germ. Pat. 338737, published July 4, 1921; Chem. Zentralbl. 1921, IV. 1224. 

 - *) Journ pharm. Soc. Japan 1921, no. 472; Chem. Zentralbl. 1921, III. 958. — 6 ) Joury. ind. eng. Chem. 13 

 (1921), 905. — ') Cf. Report October 1906, 96. — 8 ) Comp. Bertekt (German) 1921, 65. — »)'Perfum. Record 

 12 (1921, 339. 



