ts =. 
“Noves: ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. Fe 3 89 
a piatity> of the. father determined” in the distillate, aoneanine, of course, the same 
4 
3 
2 
3 
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F 
amount as the cordial. 
3 Another method has been described by_ C. F. Muttelet ‘), He adds 75 cc. of water 
to 200 cc. of liqueur and distils off 200 cc. of the mixture. He puts these together 
with 50 grams of common salt and 10 cc. of light petroleum (b. p. about 40°) into a 
separating funnel holding about 300°cc. and shakes till 10 minutes after the salt has 
dissolved, adding a few cc. of water, if required. He then shakes the solution twice 
again with 5 cc. of light petroleum, cautiously evaporates the light petroleum collected 
and weighs the residue until the weight is constant. Losses are not to be feared, 
provided the evaporation is carried out with due care. 
The use Se benzyl aleoholic instead of ethyl alcoholic potash lye ‘for the saponification 
of essential oils. 
The quantitative estimation of eSters in fatty and essential oils is, a well-known 
fact, carried out by boiling with N/2 potash lye and titrating the excess of alkali back 
with a N/2 acid. The saponification takes 1 hour on an average, it being necessary 
only in quite isolated cases to heat longer in order to split the esters completely”). 
The process is shortened considerably, according to H. F. Slack), if instead of 
ethyl alcohol benzyl alcohol is used for preparing the potash lye. In the case of 
lavender oil, the saponification was completed after only 5 minutes. This is due to Bs 
the fact that the reaction takes place at a much higher temperature, ethyl alcohol. 
boiling at 78°, benzyl alcohol at 205°. In consequence, the saponification is not 
carried out on a water-bath, but over an open flame. It is best to use N/2 or N solutions, 
a higher concentration not being applicable, it is said. As benzyl alcohol itself some- 
times shows small acid and ester values, these must previously be determined and 
taken into consideration, all the more when the benzyl alcohol serves also as a diluent 
for the oil. After the saponification is complete, the mixture is allowed to cool down 
to about 100°*), diluted with a suitable volume of neutralized methyl alcohol and 
titrated back by means of N/2 acid. 
In order to determine the free acid contained in the oil, Slack uses alcoholic N/10 ~ 
potash lye, as in an aqueous preparation the water would defer the saponification in 
case the acidity was rather considerable. When using ethyl alcoholic lye he prefers 
a N to a N/2 solution, as the saponification is then completed in half an hour, 
whereas it would otherwise take an hour, this being proved with a lavender oil. 
This observation does not tally with our own, for we have stated that in the case — 
of linalyl acetate and bergamot oil®), when in the main the same ester is concerned — 
as in oil of lavender, N/2 lye quantitatively saponifies the ester in half an hour. 
W. H. Simmons ®) reports on the formylation’) of volatile oils. He found from 
45 to 57 per cent. of citronellol in Réunion geranium oil and from 32 to 43 per cent... 
in the African variety. The results of the formylation of several oils are given in the 
form of tables, some of the oils having been treated with formic acid of 85 instead 
of 100 per cent. His experiments have shown that terpineol is almost completely 
destroyed through formylation; geraniol and linalool are converted into esters to a 
*) Annal. de Chim. analyt. 21 (1916), 50. As to other ways of estimating essential oils in liqueurs, see 
Reports April 1915, 49; October 1915, 7. — *%) See Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, 2% ed., 
‘vol.l, p.572. — *) Chemist and Druggist 87 (1915), 673. — +4) Methyl alcohol boiling at about 65°, it seems 
advisable to cool a little farther. — 5) Report April 1910, 60; October 1910, 60. — °) Analyst 40 (1915), 491. 
— 7) See Report October 1913, 64. 
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