58 Report of Schimmel § Co. April/ October 1917. 



ing plant already mentioned, but we can afford to wait and see what its capacity will 

 be like in reality. 



We have had some further experience in the adulterations that are frequently 

 practiced with sandalwood oil. In one case benzyl alcohol had again been added, a 

 substitute which seems to be much in vogue nowadays, as we have frequently 

 observed it as an adulterant of this oil during the last years 1 ). This sample showed 

 quite similar qualities to those of the adulterated product mentioned in our last Report 

 (p. 49), namely: d i5 o 0.9784; « D — 11° 15'; acid value 2.7; ester value 7.5; ester value 

 after acetylation 197.9; soluble in 4 vols, of 70 percent, alcohol, the solution on further 

 dilution turning opalescent or even turbid. In this case also, just like in the former one, 

 a discrepancy was evident, e. g., the rotation was too high in spite of a high acetylation 

 figure, besides which the solubility was far from being satisfactory. Our suspicions 

 that this was not the case of a pure sandalwood distillate were abundantly confirmed 

 on closer examination. Notwithstanding smallness of the sample we succeeded in 

 separating benzyl alcohol from it by fractionated distillation and identifying it by con- 

 version into benzyl acetate. Benzyl alcohol being calculated as santalol in acetylation, 

 the santalol content of 91.3 per cent, deduced from the above-mentioned acetylation 

 value, only apparently corresponds to this figure, in reality it is much lower. 



Perhaps this is not the only adulteration, as the addition of benzyl alcohol may 

 explain the insufficient rotation, but not the bad solubility which on the contrary is 

 increased considerably thereby; possibly of course the original oil may have been 

 very inferior in quality. 



Another sandal oil sample gave the following figures: — di 5 o 0.9561; « D — 19° 48'; 

 acid value 1.5; ester value 5.6; ester value after acetylation 61.6; soluble only in 7 vols, 

 of 90 per cent, alcohol. The adulteration is proved in this case by the too low specific 

 gravity, the much too low acetylation figure (normally not below 196), and the quite 

 insufficient solubility. The boiling test was also unsatisfactory, as 70 per cent, distilled 

 off already between 275 and 285°, whereas under similar conditions the first 70 per cent, 

 of pure sandal oil distil between 285 and 305°. 



From these observations and also from the quite different smell we must conclude 

 that this product did not contain any East Indian sandal oil at all and that on the 

 contrary it was a mixture of cedar oil and West Indian sandal oil. 



Santalol, which determines the value of the East Indian oil, was totally absent in 

 these 2 samples, but even if it had been present, the quantity would have been quite 

 insufficient, as the acetylation figure would correspond to a santalol content of only 

 25.3 per cent, whereas a good East Indian product contains at least 90 per cent thereof. 



A third, also adulterated oil, was sent to us in capsules. Its specific gravity was 

 too low (diso 0.9691) and its ester value too high (26.3), which facts induced us to 

 conclude that a fatty oil was present. Unfortunately it was impossible to determine 

 the nature and quantity of the adulterant, as only 20 capsules were at our disposal. 



All three oils had been sent to us for examination from Switzerland. 



Q. H. Briggs 2 ) recommends the following method for determining the yield of 

 volatile oil from small samples of sandalwood: 100 g. of the finely divided wood are 

 extracted in a Soxhlet-apparatus with ether, the latter is evaporated on a water bath 



*) Comp. Report October 1913, 98; October 1916, 49, 50. — 2 ) Journ. inch eng. Chemistry 8 (1916), 428; 

 Jour.n. Sec. chew,. Industry 35 (1916), 706. 



