Misia _ Notes ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. | ye 
CH, 
BS ae | 
eee CHa WR CH apt 
Sid ee we yo CH athe Ci Le a 
‘Cu, 
ae CC? C:c 
cess GH, NCH CHAZ CH, 
Sis 1 ees cee | (VIII) "pen Caan 
ay (isomeric form of ve. w | (2 conjugated double bonds). 
| ‘ ERs the sesquiterpene d-longifolene see p. 128 of this Report. 
Alcohols. 
Detection of Alcohols m form of theo ee ashy is known that by the action 
of gaseous cyanic acid- on primary and secondary alcohols, that allophanates are 
chiefly formed} together with small quantities of urethanes. A. Béhal*) also found that 
_ this reaction can be applied to:-tertiary alcohols. Phenols and terpene alcohols 
especially can be detected in this way. 
In order to obtain the characteristic aftentanates: gaseus cyanic eid | is pas into 
the alcohol; the reaction product is washed with ether. After the excess alcohol and 
the urethanes produced have been separated, the residue is crystallised from hot acouat, 
benzene, or acetone. 
All the allophanates Aiepiied by Béhal were crystalline Stiouriees compounds, 
very slightly soluble in cold ether, and slightly soluble in cold alcohol. The allophanates 
of the tertiary aliphatic alcohols and of the phenols were saponified by boiling water 
with formation* of CO., urea, and alcohol. Amongst the terpene alcohols, which 
otherwise behaved normally, linalool*) was an exception. Great exceptions to the rule) 
- were observed in the cyclic alcohols which contained phenol-groups. If the phenol 
groups were esterified, then the reaction proceeded normally. 
‘Unsaturated alcohols-in green plants.—Curtius and Franzen?) pointed out years ago 
that a mixture of unsaturated alcohols is present in the leaves of the hornbeam and 
edible chestnut. The following were identified i in the hornbeam leaves: — butenol, pentenol, 
hexenol, an alcohol CsH,,O, and one or more higher alcohols; in the chestnut leaves: — 
lower homologues of hexenol, hexenol itself and higher unsaturated alcohols. There is 
also a mixture of similar composition present in the oak (Quercus sessiliflora). 
~ Now the smell of the alcohol mixture from the three plants, especially on dilution, 
is exactly the same—a quite characteristic pleasant odour recalling to mind that of 
raspberries, tea, and roses. Franzen and Wagner‘) made use of this characteristic 
_ Sign — obtainable from 1 kg. or less of leaves—in order to examine 40 more plants 
~ for the presence of the mixture of unsaturated alcohols —elder, lime, wormwood, 
potato, strawberry, Stinging nettle, birch, peppermint. 
For this purpose they treated the freshly plucked, finely divided leaves with steam . 
: ‘ and baryta water to get rid of the volatile acids, and the distillate with silver oxide 
and caustic soda, which converted the aldehydes into the corresponding carboxylic 
Pe acids. 50 cc. distillate contained the alcohol mixture. 
‘The characteristic smell was identified with certainty in a total of 40 plants. 
Thus it can be assumed that, in all probability, this mixture of unsaturated alcohols is 
a normal constituent of green leaves. 
1) Compt. rend. sg digs 945. — %) Further particulars wanting. — %) Cf. Report April 1915, 80. — 
*) Sitzungsber. der Heidelberg. Akad. der Wissensch. Math.-Naturw. Klasse. Abt. A 1920, 2. Abhandl. Heidelberg 1920. 
Wy gx 
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