BBs Be " ‘REPORT OF Serine & Co. | APRIL 
gated fore by the Imperial Institute and oe us were identified : as : carva 
is of opinion that the eee, of Francis and Saracomenos, whe ee 
cat tiemieat identification of the constituents. Besides, Bfaricis seems ‘to have b 
his oil to be thyme oil, the carvacrol, in consequence, by mistake, to be thymol. 
Furthermore, we have doubts whether the common Cyprus oil is actually a produ 
of Origanum dubium. Holmboe believes the mother-plant to be 0. dubium, a subspecies 
of O. Maru, L., whereas Holmes. claims 0. majoranoides, Willd., a variety of O. Maru, for” “g 
that Bresabter! Besides, it must be remembered that the systematology of the Ona 
species is difficult and not yet sufficiently. clear”). A 
. Palm erie Oil, essential. Commercial palm oil is prepared in the tropics, 
from the fruit of Hlwis guineensis, Jacq. (N. O. Palmee), whereas palm kernels are worked — 4 
principally in Europe for their fatty oil. Equally to cocoanut oil, palm kernel oil must, “4 
for edible purposes, be freed from ill-smelling constituents by steam distillation. In this Be: 
process, an essential oil is obtained which, according to A. H. Salway 3} shows the — 
following figures: — de 0.842; acid v.30; ester v.15. Shaking with 1 per cent. oe A 4 
hydroxide solution removed 12.2 per cent. of free fatty acids from the oil. The remaining | 
oil boiled, under 90 mm. pressure, between 135 to 105° and was collected in three 4 
fractions, each of which reacted with sodium hydrogen sulphite. The oil regenerated © ¥ 
from the double compound solidified in the cold and showed the following a : 
agreeing with those of methyl nonyl ketone: — m. p. 13°; b. p. 220 to 2309; des 0.828. 
Its semicarbazone melted at 122 to 124°, its oxime at 44 to 46°. The amount of volatile 
neutral oil contained in palm kernel oil was 0.11 per cent. 
In. connection herewith we report in the following on an essential oil which we 
received from a large soap works. It was then prepared by distilling 80 kilos palm ~ 
kernel oil with steam and extracting the distillate with toluene. Some of the solvent 
was still present in the oil. Y Ah 
The oil distilled, under 5 mm., between 45 and 125° (108 g.) and was. freed Hom 
fatty acids by shaking with ne he ie carbonate solution. The neutral essential oi 
showed on boiling the following behaviour: — 
fraction | 4¢g., b.p. 40 to 65° (7 mm.) 
fraction Il 58 ¢., b. p. 65 to 100° (7 mm.) 
The latter fraction smelled of rue and had the constants: — dis0 0.8325; dy Oe ‘ 
Npx»0 1.42785; sol. p.-+ 2°. On shaking this fraction with acid sulphite solution 90 ge : 
of a bisulphite compound were obtained which after decomposing with sodium carbonate 
and steam distilling gave 45 g. of rue-like smelling ketones. They distilled from 180: to 
232° (740 mm.) and could be separated, by repeated fractionation, into a part boiling 
between 180 and 230° and one distilling without alteration from 230 to 232°. The latter, 
18 g., proved to be pure methyl nonyl ketone. M. p. 12 to 13°; dis0 0.8299; ap 085 
Np»0 1.43075; m.p. of the semicarbazone 121°.. The semicarbazone prepared from fue 
oil showed the same melting point. On oxidation with bromine and caustic potash, the 
ketone yielded n-caprinic acid, m.p. of the raw product 27°; the amide; prepared by 
means of the ammonium salt (white leaflets from light petroleum). had the m.p. 97 to 98 
From the lower boiling ketone fraction, no semicarbazone of exact m. p. could 
isolated. eeesely it is a question of, methyl apy and methyl heptyl keto i : f 
1) Journ. chem. Soc. 98 (1908), 862;- Report November 1908, 90. — *) Compare Gildemeister and re 
Die dtherischen Ole 2"¢ ed., vol. Ill, 59. See also Report October 1918, 77. — *) Journ. chem. Soc. ui (191 
