COMMERCIAL NOTES AND SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION. 63 
was identified from the tetrabromide, m.p.124°, and p-cymene by treating the ulti- 
mate fraction with permanganate (p-hydroxyisopropyl benzoic acid, m.p. 156°). -Pinene, 
phellandrene, and terpinene could not be detected. 
The terpene-fraction of dextrorotatory olibanum oil is therefore likewise dextro- 
rotatory, and consists to the extent of nearly 99 p.c. of «pinene and camphene; 
dipentene and p-cymene only occurring in the oil in very slight proportions (1 p.c.). 
Phellandrene, the presence of which in the earlier oil had been established by 
Schimmel & Co. was absent from the sample now under review. 
In the high boiling fractions of oil of frankincense [b. p. 70° (12 mm.); dis0 0,9685; 
ay + 20° 48’], E. Fromm and E. Autin’) have discovered a body CioHisO, which boils 
between 210 and 211°, and to which they have given the name of olibanol. Olibanol 
has the properties of an alcohol, and possibly also those of a ketone. This may be 
due to its being a mixture of two substances, or to the fact that it is capable of 
reacting in two tautomeric forms. When oxidised with potassium permanganate in 
aqueous solution, olibanol gives rise to a dibasic liquid acid CyoHi,O4. So far nothing 
is known of the constitution of this acid. In addition, there is formed from olibanol, 
with separation of a carbon-atom, pinononic acid, CyHi,O3. Treatment with bromine 
liquor showed this substance to be in effect pinononic acid, bromoform and norpinic 
acid being formed. The pinononic acid was furthermore identified by preparing its 
oxime (m. p. 187°) and its semicarbazone (m. p. 209°). The structural formula of olibanol 
cannot be definitely drawn up, however, as the outcome of these results of oxidation. 
From the oxidation-liquid of olibanol, d-borneol (m. p. 201 to 202°), was isolated, 
from which it may be assumed that oil of frankincense contains esterified borneol. 
Galangal Oil. We have distilled a few small parcels of galangal root, but 
unfortunately we have had to pay such high prices for them that we are only able 
to list this oil, which has long been wanting, at a very high figure. In spite of this 
many of our customers are glad to be able to procure once more oil of the excellent 
quality supplied by us, after they have been compelled to make shift for so long 
with the sometimes very questionable oils supplied by certain other firms. 
Garlic Oil. We stated on p. 81 of our Report of April 1912 that according to 
Manindra Nath Banerjee, quicksilver can be completely freed from lead by rubbing it 
in a mortar with garlic-juice, which effect is produced by the essential oil contained 
in the spice. The author has now published fuller details of this purification-method 
in another place’). 
Geranium Oil. Now that the Algerian growers are hardly willing to sell their 
oil otherwise than by contract running over several years, it is becoming more and 
more difficult to report on the market-value of this article. There is no longer any 
genuine market-price for African geranium oil, for the large quantities which have 
been bought by certain speculators as an investment, continue to influence the market 
in an altogether irregular manner. Holders who happen to be in want of money sell 
cheaply as soon as they receive deliveries on account of their contracts, and when 
just at the moment no customer can be found, the oil is, in certain conditions, sold 
) Liebigs Annalen 401 (1913), DG,» ya 2) Zeitschr. f. anorg. Chem. 88 (1913), 113. 
