ee, a ee 
104 REPORT OF SCHIMMEL & Co. APRIL 1914.0 2 ; 
Bornyl Acetate. Among the samples of bornyl acetate which have recently been 
submitted to us for our opinion, one is deserving of special mention in this place, 
because it shows the kind of article which sellers occasionally have the temerity to 
offer for sale. The product in question, which had been sold by a Hamburg firm, and 
was deliberated described as “bornyl acetate, 100 p.c.” was nothing but common 
Siberian pine-needle oil with an ester-content of 43,9 p.c. It was further differentiated 
from bornyl acetate by its lower specific gravity (dis0 0,9195) and by the fact that it 
was only soluble in 90 p.c. alcohol (0,5 vols a.m.) The specific gravity of 98 to 
100 p.c. bornyl acetate ranges from 0,987 to 0,991, its ester value from 280 to 285, 
and it is soluble in about three times its volume and more of 70 p.c. alcohol. 
Cinnamic Alcohol. In our opinion this very useful preparation is not by any 
means so well appreciated in the perfumery industry as it deserves. Its unobtrusive, 
hyacinth-like smell, is of great use in the preparation of all manner of perfume-compo- 
sitions. We are equipped for its manufacture on the largest possible scale, and are 
able to offer special advantages for contracts of some magnitude. Our cinnamic 
alcohol is readily soluble in alcohol, it boils at about 257°, and its specific gravity 
at 39°: is from‘ 1,01 to’ 1,03." Its m. p: is -between “32 ‘and 33°: 
Citral. The declining tendency of the price of lemongrass oil is naturally 
affecting in a corresponding degree the cost-price of citral, a preparation which is 
indispensable in the manufacture of violet-perfumes. We are therefore now able to 
offer citral at reduced prices, and we shall be pleased to submit special quotations 
for quantities of some importance. It would be superfluous to call attention to the 
high degree of purity of our preparation, but it is not amiss to point out that citral 
has been offered (particularly in the English market and, regrettably, from German 
sources), which consisted simply of a lemongrass oil fraction of which the intrinsic 
value scarcely exceeded that of rectified lemongrass oil. 
Copaiba Balsam. The Netherlands Colonial Museum at Haarlem") has received 
from Surinam two samples of copaiba balsam from Copaifera guyanensis, Desf. (N. O. 
Leguninose). One of the samples was cloudy, the other clear. The constants of the 
two were about similar: d0,96059 and 0,9712, acid v. 70, sap. v. 84. The percentages 
of volatile oil were respectively 29 and 23,7. 
Coumarin. A new synthesis of coumarin is described by H. Meyer, R. Beer and 
G. Lasch’). They take as their starting-point o-chlorocinnamic acid, which they prepare 
by heating o-chlorobenzalchloride with glacial acetic acid and potassium acetate on an 
oil-bath. The o-chlorocinnamic acid they reduce electrolytically into hydrochlorocinnamic 
acid (o-chlorophenyl propionic acid). This acid they heat with soda liquor in an auto- 
clave, when melilotic acid is formed, which in turn is converted into its anhydride by 
boiling. The best method of obtaining coumarin from melilotic anhydride is by heating 
the anhydride to between 270 and 300° and slowly passing bromine over it.. By this 
method pure, non-brominated coumarin is obtained, in addition to about 20 p.c. of 
resin. Chlorine also in this case acts as a dehydrating agent, and the yield of coumarin 
likewise amounts to from 70 to 80 p.c. Coumarin is also obtainable by simply boiling 
1) Bulletin van het Koloniaal museum te Haarlem No. 52, p. 101, Amsterdam 1913. — *) Monatsh. f. 
Chem. 34 (1913), 1665. | . is 
