YT aa 
Pye tog . 
A 
80 REPORT OF SCHIMMEL 8 Co. OCTOBER 1914/APRIL 1915. 
which shows a great similarity to that of isocantharidin. In consequence anemonin ought a 
to have only one double linking. This is however, not the case. J. Asahina‘) reduced the 
substance and in this way established with certainty the presence of two double linkings. 
In order to obtain anemonin, he distilled with steam the fresh herb of Ranunculus 
japonicus), which abounds everywhere in Japan. From 10 kilos of fresh herb he ob- 
tained on an average 12 g. = 0,12 p.c. of a yellow oil, which violently attacks the 
mucous membranes and causes blisters to form. If the oil is left standing in the 
cold, crystals separate gradually from it, which show all the properties of anemonin, 
only that after recrystallization from alcohol or chloroform they do not melt at 152°, 
but only at 157 to 158°. When heating further, the substance congeals at 180° to a 
white mass with a feeble separation of gases and slowly decomposes at over 300°, 
turning brown. The mother lye of anemonin becomes gradually turbid and congeals 
to a mixture of insoluble flakes and prismatic crystals. The crystals are composed 
of a clear, transparent part, anemonin, and an opaque part, which melts only at about 
300°, becoming charred in the process. By shaking anemonin suspended in glacial 
acetic acid with platinum black in an atmosphere of hydrogen, Asahina obtained 
tetrahydroanemonin (m. p. 155°). On further heating, the melted substance remains 
unchanged up to 290° and becomes charred at about 300° with the development of 
gases. The elementary analysis confirmed the formula Cio Hi2 Ox. 
Volatile constituents of hornbeam leaves. 
On page 138 of our Report of October 1912, we have discussed a paper by 
Th. Curtius and H. Franzen on the volatile constituents of hornbeam leaves, which 
appeared at the time in the Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften 
The same communications have now been published too in Liebigs Annalen der Chemie *). 
In their 78 communication on the chemical constituents of green plants, the 
authors describe an attempt to synthesize the leaf aldehyde (a, é-hexenealdehyde) ’*). 
However, as they did not arrive at the desired result and only obtained some bodies 
which are of little interest for our special domain, we simply mention the paper. 
Amygdalin in plum-kernels. 
G. Kassner and K. Eckelmann®) proved the presence of amygdalin in plum-kernels 
in the usual way by extracting the material with alcohol, after it had been deprived 
of the fatty substances, and precipitation with ether. 
The plum-kernels contained 42,92 p.c. of fatty oil. 
The reduction of aldehydes by means of yeast has been discussed on page 91 of 
this Report. 
Chemical Notes. 
A. Brochet and M. Bauer®) describe the reduction of aliphatic ethylene linkings 
with the aid of nickel under moderate pressure. Methyl cinnamate, mixed with methyl 
1) Berl. Berichte 47 (1914), 914. — °) The Index Kewensis distinguishes between Ranunculus japonicus, 
Langsd. = R. Langsdorfii, Spreng. and R. japonicus, Thunb. = R. acris, L. Asahina does not indicate the — 
author’s name. — 8) Liebigs Annalen 404 (1914), 93. — 4) Sitzwngsber. der Heidelberg. Akad. der Wissensch. 
Class for Mathem. and Nat. Science, Sect. A, 1914, 22. Treatise. Heidelberg 1914. — %) Arch. der Pharm. 
252 (1914), 405. — °) Compt. rend. 159 (1914), 190. Details as to method and apparatus are found in a 
treatise previously published by Brochet (Bull. Soc. chim. IV. 15 [1914], 554). } 
