Re ce SP eee ENG 
Es ~ Cremem PREPARATIONS AND DRUGS. ie 63 
= _Chemical Preparations and Drugs. 
_ Almond Oil, sweet. We have mentioned repeatedly that, owing to the present 
‘Scarcity of sweet almond oil and other oils or fats, the manufacture of fatty oil from 
‘plum stones has been suggested, in which connection we discussed treatises of 
‘K. Alpers’) and F. Darvas?). In an article published by G. Kassner) later on, the use 
0 the kernels of the common plum (Prunus domestica, L., Rosacec) is also described. . 
The oil obtained through pressing, from sound, ripe kernels was golden yellow, 
Apso 1.4705, iodine v. 104.9. On cooling in a freezing mixture, only at —15° some 
‘crystalline flakes separated, otherwise it only became a little thicker. The residues from 
the pressing were treated in the same way as: the German Pharmacopeeia prescribes 
4 or the preparation of bitter almond water, when an “Aqua pruni” was obtained, which © 
answered the requirements of the German Pharmacopeeia for “Aqua amygdalarum ama- 
rarum” _ The.content of free hydrocyanic acid (not bound to the ee was 
below the maximum — as admissible. 
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_ Anethole. The use of phthalic ester as an adulterant has been altogether appalling 
“in the year reviewed in this Report. A special activity in this domain has been displayed’ 
‘by a little Leipzig firm, which apparently adds this ester indiscriminately to all the oils, 
“aS we may safely conclude from a good many samples of all sorts of oils, which were 
adulterated in said way and, without exception, came from the firm in question. One 
of the products thus faked was anethole, which showed the following constants: 
“deso 1.0200, Gy —0°17', Solidification point + 89, soluble in any quantity of alcohol — 
90 per cent. and in 5.5 vols. alcohol 80 per cent. The optical activity indicated that. 
the product was no anethole, but aniseed oil. The excessive specific gravity, the low 
‘solidification point and the ready solubility led to the conclusion that the oil had 
undergone changes, such as may occur with either anethole and aniseed oil, when 
improperly stored. It was remarkable, however, that the oil was nevertheless colourless 
a nd had no smell of anisaldehyde, which is characteristic for altered aniseed oils, as 
eferred to. This apparent contradiction was quickly explained on saponifying the 
Bice Whereas aniseed oil does not contain any saponifyable constituents, the 
Sample under investigation showed an ester value of 169.8. This proved the presence 
of an ester, which we characterized by isolating the acid parts of the oil. We thus 
obtained a solid acid, melting at about 197° and yielding on sublimation an anhydride 
melting at 130°. It was evident therefore that we had to deal with phthalic. acid. 
According to the ester value mentioned before, the content of phthalate amounted to 
29.4 per cent., calculated as dimethyl phthalate. It seemed to us that, in addition, 
traces of another ester were present. 3 : 
= 1) Chem. Ztg. 40 (1916), 645; Report October 1916, 67.. — 7) Zeitschr. d. allg. Osterr. Apoth. Ver. 54 (1916), 
49; Report October 1917, 87. — *) Arch. der Pharm. 256 (1918), 106. 
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