Oils and Fats. 



118 



[August, 1908. 



present, the prospects of the camphor- 

 cultivation in Tonquin are not unfavour- 

 able. 



The prospects of the borneol-yielding 

 composite Blumea balsamifera, "which 

 is also found in Indo-China, and which is 

 recommended from various quarters tor 

 the production of camphor, are, how- 

 ever, not considered so favourable. We 

 refer more fully to this subject under 

 Borneol. 



The German Commissioner of Forests, 

 Eckert, reports on the experiments in 

 the cultivation of camphor in the various 

 stations of German East Africa, that the 

 plants grown from seed, and placed at 

 distances of 2 by 2 metres, have through- 

 out taken on well. The height of the 

 plants now fluctuates between 20 in. 

 and 8 feet. For previous and inter- 

 mediate cultivation it is recommended 

 to sow maize. 



An article by Cayla on the production 

 and use of camphor oil gives no infor- 

 mation which has not already become 

 known from time to time, and for this 

 reason we only refer to it here for the 

 sake of completeness. 



In a fraction obtained from camphor 

 oil, which had the following constants : 

 b. p. 175-5 to 177° (763 mm. press.) 

 dl5°0-8470, aD + 39°46',"D20° 1-47533, the 

 high rotation gave rise to the suspicion 

 that in addition to the dipentene which 

 Wallach had already discovered in the 

 oil a considerable time ago, there might 

 also be present not inconsiderable quan- 

 tities of d-limonene. 



From the tetrabromide, obtained by 

 brominating, abundant quantities of 

 pure dipentene tetrabromide, m.p. 124°, 

 could readily be isolated, whilst the pro- 

 duction of limouene tetrabromide in the 



pure state was accompanied by difficul- 

 ties, although a considerable enrichment 

 of this product could be attained by 

 fractional crystallisation. For example, 

 a mixture of the two tetrabromides 

 showed a rotation of WD about +12° in 

 chloroform solution. 



The undoubted proof of the presence 

 of d-limonene in addition to dipentene 

 was obtained by us as follows :— 



With due regard to the fact that 

 -B-limonene nitrosochloride is more diffi- 

 cultly soluble in chloroform than the a- 

 compound and the two dipentene com- 

 pounds, and that the nitrolpiperidides 

 which can be formed therefrom show 

 different solubilities in petroleum ether, 

 the nitrosochloride, which was formed 

 from the fraction only in a small 

 yield, was shaken for a short time at 

 ordinary temperature with double the 

 quantity of chloroform, and the portion 

 which had not entered into solution was 

 collected. The chloroform solution of 

 this substance melting at 100 to 101", 

 proved to be strongly dextrorotatory. 

 The portion of the nitrolpiperidide ob- 

 tained by conversion with piperidine, 

 which first made its appearance from 

 dilute alcohol, was treated with cold pet- 

 roleum ether. The portion which had not 

 dissolved consisted chiefly of dipentene 

 nitrolpiperidide, small needles of the 

 melting point 150 to 152° ; f r om the solu- 

 tion i?-limonene nitrolpiperidide crystal- 

 lised in coarse crystals of the m.p. 110 

 to 111°, the solution of which in chloro- 

 form was laevorotatory. 



To the numerous constituents detected 

 in camphor oil must therefore still be 

 added d-limonene, which represented 

 about one-third of the examined frac- 

 tion.— Semi- A nnual Report of Schimmel 

 & Co., April, 1908. 



