Te a) aed ee 
on ke ers 
72 REPORT OF SCHIMMEL & Co. APRIL 1914. 
Oil of Ocimum canum. Some years ago E. Charabot') described an oil said to 
have been distilled from Ocimum canum, Sims (O. americanum, L.), N. O. Labiate, which 
contained a fairly large proportion of d-camphor. A sample of oil received from Daba- 
kala (Ivory Coast) by the firm of Roure-Bertrand Fils?) showed altogether different 
properties from the product examined by Charabot, and contained no camphor. As 
E.G. Camus had examined the herb from which the oil explored by Roure-Bertrand © 
Fils was distilled, and had identified it as O. canuwm, it may be assumed that the 
Ocimum species which passed through Charabot’s hands differed from the first-named. 
At ordinary temperature the oil described by Roure-Bertrand Fils deposits needle- 
shaped crystals soon after its preparation. These crystals often attain a length of 
several centimeters. When the oil is slightly warmed by hand it forms a faintly 
yellow liquid, highly refractive of light, of the following characters: ds20 1,0330, 
&p300 — 2° 30’, acid v.0, sap. v. 301,4, sol. in 21/4 vols. a.m. of 75 p.c. alcohol, and in 
any proportion in 80 p.c. alcohol. The solid substance had m.p. 35 to 37° and proved 
to be identical with methyl cinnamate. The acid which had been separated out from 
the saponification liquors had the same m. p. as cinnamic acid (133°). The saponi- 
fication value of the oil indicates that the probable methyl cinnamate content was 
about 87 p.c. The non-saponifiable constituents of the oil appear to consist of strongly 
lzvorotatory hydrocarbons. 
A sample of oil which had been distilled at Grasse from African material (yield 
0,05 p.c.) gave the same constants as the oil distilled on the Ivory Coast. 
We also have recently examined an oil from Ocimum canvém which had been sent 
to us from Central Africa. Its constants were as follow: dso 1,0431, oe) — 2°25’, 
Npz00 1,99611, acid v. 0,6, ester v. 289,8. It was not completely soluble in 10 vols. of 
70 p.c. alcohol, but with its own vol. of 80 p.c. alcohol a.m. it made a clear solution. 
At a warm temperature the oil formed a yellow liquid, but even at room temperature 
it solidified for the most part. Freed by suction, the crystals, after being recrystallised 
from alcohol, had the m. p. of methyl cinnamate (36°). By saponifying the esters it 
was possible to isolate the cinnamic acid (m. p. 133°) and the methyl alcohol. The 
last-named was identified from its b.p. and from conversion into formaldehyde. 
The oil, when separated by suction from the crystals after strong cooling, still 
possessed the intense odour of methyl cinnamate. Its constants were: diso 1,0404, 
Npz0o 1,04932. 
By repeated distillation at ordinary pressure, during which it passed over between 
230 and 260°, the oil was freed as far as possible from methyl cinnamate (b. p. 255 
to 260°) but this could only be done imperfectly. When the first runnings had been 
saponified only a small quantity of oil of a faintly camphoraceous odour was left 
behind; but it was impossible to detect in this fraction either camphor (with semi- 
carbazide) or borneol (with phenylzsocyanate). 
An oil from Ocimum canum produced in the island of Mayotte and described in 
our Report of April 1908 (p. 120), had very different properties. It contained practi- 
cally no ester (ester v. 2,8) but a fairly large proportion of d-camphor, and in these 
respects agreed with Charabot’s oil referred to above. 
Oil of Ocimum gratissimum. The great differences which exist between the 
oils of the various Ocimum species are evident from the examination of the oils of 
Ocimum canum (see above) and O. gratissimum, L. For, whereas the first-named oil 
1) Bull. du Jardin Colonial 1908; Berichte von Roure-Bertrand Fils April 1908, 33. — 7) Berichte von 
Roure-Bertrand Fils Oktober 1918, 19. : 
