Scientific and other notes on essential oils. 11 



Roberts received both the oils he examined "from the Forest Economist to the 



Government of India. The constants of the products examined by him and by us were 



the following: — 



Himalayan Cedar Oil tested by 



Roberts Schimmel $ Co. 



I (received 1914) II (received 1915) 



diso 0.9549 0.9756 0.9530 



« D + 52°16' 4-34° 6' +53° 8' 



n D2 io 1.5195 1.5225 n DM o 1.51565 



acid v. 5.6 4.5 2.9 



ester v. 19.3 4.9 14.9 



ester v. after acet. 30.8 34.4 39.2 



not soluble in soluble in all not completely 



90 per cent, alcohol. proportions in soluble in 



90 per cent, alcohol. 90 per cent, alcohol. 

 With the help of the semicarbazone (melting point 163 to 164°) Roberts succeeded 

 in obtaining a ketone C 9 Hi 4 from the lower-boiling fractions which gave no reaction 

 with alkali sulphites. The oxime remained liquid, but produced with bromine a dibrom- 

 oxime melting at 130°. The smell of the ketone recalls that of amylacetate; it is 

 probably identical with p-methyl-zl 3 -tetrahydroacetophenone which Stephan and Helle 1 ) 

 obtained in our laboratory by oxidizing /?-terpineol. On splitting the semicarbazone 

 with dilute sulphuric acid the original ketone was not regenerated, but the main product 

 that appeared was a ketone boiling between 222 and 224° (n D2 oo 1 .4965) whose semi- 

 carbazone melted between 204 and 205° and which was identical with ^-tolyl-methyl- 

 ketone, as on oxidation with alkaline bromine solution it produced bromoform and 

 ^-toluic acid. Probably the ketone C 9 Hi 4 0, found by Grimal 2 ) in Atlas cedar oil, is also 

 identical with j)-methyl-J 3 -tetrahydroacetophenone. The Himalayan cedar oil contained 

 besides small quantities (about 0.1 per cent.) of a phenol which was identified by its 

 benzoyl compound, melting at 70°. Roberts found in the saponification liquors of the 

 oil a mixture of caproic, cenanthic (analysis of the silver salts) and stearic acids (m.p. 71°; 

 analysis of the silver salt). The chief constituents of the oil were sesquiterpene 

 compounds, amongst which Roberts isolated a sesquiterpene boiling between 262 and 

 265° (151 to 153° at 19 mm. pressure): d i5 o 0.9276; « D20O + 14°36'; n D2 io 1.5170. It 

 produced in a solution of glacial acetic acid with concentrated sulphuric acid the same 

 coloration as cadinene. No solid derivatives were obtained from the sesquiterpene. 

 We 3 ) had also found a ketone in the Himalayan cedar oil which we considered 

 as possibly identical with the ketone originating from Atlas cedar oil, as well as a 

 sesquiterpene not identical with cadinene. 



Cherry Kernel Oil. A few years ago already we described an oil we had obtained 

 by distilling cherry kernels 4 ). An oil showing quite different qualities has been described 

 by F. Rabak 5 ) in a paper on the utilization of cherry by-products. In the cherry preserv- 

 ing industry of North America about 1400 tons of cherry stones and 112000 gallons 

 of juice are obtained as by-products; hitherto these products have not been utilized, 

 although this is quite possible. By treating the crushed stones with a solvent, 8.3 per cent. 



') Berl. Berichte 35 (1902), 2151. — *) Compt. rend. 135 (1902), 582, 1057; Report April 1903, 18. — 

 s ) Report April 1915, 52. — 4 ) Report April 1913, 111. — 6 ) 77. & Bept. Agrk. Bull. N° 350, 1916. — Bull. 

 Agr. Intell. 7 (1916), 1355; Journ. Soc. diem. Industry 36 (1917), 159. 



