eae ater acet. 202. 5. . The rotation is cae 1 
was feud that it was quieted This was revealed by jie boiling behavigus 
in a pure sample, examined for comparison purposes, nothing distilled ‘over bel 
280° (757 mm.) the oil under examination began to boil a little above 200° and al 
20 per cent. had passed over by the time 280° was reached. -This fraction consisted — 
‘in part of benzyl alcohol’), characterized by its conversion into the acetate, oxidation 
to benzaldehyde and preparation of the phenylurethane (m. p. 772. It had evidently — | 
. been added to the oil in order to make it appear rich in santalol, as evidenced by j Ee 
the acetylation value, for every one per cent, of benzyl alcohol creates the fictitious a 
_ impression of two per cent. of santalol. It is evident, therefore, that acetylation permits a | 
of no conclusions being drawn as to actual santalol content in this instance. Rees 
The presence of benzyl alcohol, however, does not explain the indifferent solubility, a 
seeing that this alcohol is very readily soluble. It may therefore be taken for granted 
that this was not the only adulterant present; unless the basis of the concoction was 4 
a sandalwood oil of extremely bad solubility, and therefore a very inferior article. a 
About the same may be said of an oil of French origin which had also been _ 
“palmed off” on a Swiss buyer, and which, besides benzyl alcohol, contained glyceryl 7 
acetate and terpineol. As also in this case solubility left much to be desired, and 
as all the above-mentioned additions are readily soluble, it may be left to the im-  — 
agination of the reader how bad the original sandalwood oil must have been to ~ 
start with. aa 
The constants of the sample were as under: -di50 0.9800, ep — 150 3355 <oigete in - : 
about 5 vol. and more of 70 per cent. alcohol, strong opalescence on further dilution; : 
acid v. 2.1, ester v. 31.7, after acetylation 206.3. As will be seen, the oil has an un-— aq 
usually high ester value (normally not above 17!) which makes it at once suspicious. — 
The suspicion of adulteration became certainty when it was found that the ester values 
of the original as well as the acetylated oil decreased to 26.1 and 196.0 when the oil 
was rectified in a current of steam; for with pure sandalwood oil acetylation value ata 
least does not decrease upon rectification. Closer investigation revealed the presence : 
of several additions, 7. e. as already stated, glyceryl acetate, benzyl alcohol and terpineol. . 
Glyceryl acetate was eliminated, at least partly, by repeated shaking with weak alcoholic — q 
water and recognized after removal of the solvent, i.a., by the high saponification number 
(514.5). Benzyl alcohol and terpineol passed over in the first fractions upon fractionated - 
distillation. Benzyl alcohol was identified by the phenylurethane, m. p. 77°, terpineol by 
conversion into its acetate and the nitrosochloride. The latter melted at 105°, exactly 
as is the case with the preparation obtained from the liquid terpineol of commerce 
a mixture of the two nitrosochlorides showed the same melting point. — 
Needless to say, these additions are made with the object of making the canta 
content appear higher, for all the three adulterants are calculated as santalol in the. 
process of acetylation. The ester value after acetylation corresponding to a ‘san’ 
content of 95.8 per cent. cannot therefore in this instance be relied upon for the rea 
santalol content, which latter is considerably lower. The different adulterants had ; 
dently been selected with a view to balancing specific gravity, ee weule | eee 
the admixture being even greater. ae 
4) A similar adulteration had been found by us before now. See Report October 1913, 98. s 
