Vol. LV., No. 6. 
85 
ESSENTIAL OILS OF THE QUEENSLAND 
FLORA. Part XIX. — The Essential Oil of 
Halfordia Kendack. 
By T. Gr. H. Jones, D.Sc., A.A.C.I., and F. N. Lahey, D.Sc., 
Department of Chemistry, University of Queensland. 
( Received 22 nd November, 1943; tabled before the Royal Society of 
Queensland, 29 th November, 1943; issued separately, 26th June, 
1944.) 
Halfordia Kendack is a very common tree on the coastal belt in 
Southern Queensland, particularly on the low sandy areas near the sea 
between Southport and the New South Wales border. The material for 
this investigation was collected at Palm Beach. 
Leaves and terminal -branchlets on steam distillation yielded -6 per 
cent, of an oil having the following constants : — 
di5-5 
nf 1-4700 
[a] D + 38-3 
Ester Value .. .. .. 1-3 
The oil was shown to be particularly rich in d-a-pinene, this 
constituent being present to the extent of 90 per cent. The remainder 
of the oil consisted of cymene (4 per cent.), terpineol acetate, 
sesquiterpene and sesquiterpene alcohol. 
EXPERIMENTAL. 
Leaves and terminal branchlets of Halfordia Kendack weighing 
380 lb. were submitted to steam distillation and gave 1,200 ml. of a 
clear mobile oil with the above physical constants. The oil was shaken 
with dilute sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide solutions in turn, 
but neither of these solutions extracted anything from the oil. After 
washing with water and drying, the oil was fractionally distilled through 
a Young’s fractioning column at 4 mm. pressure. 
Ninety per cent, of the oil boiled at 35-36° at this pressure. This 
fraction had the following constants : — 
d 15 . 5 . . . . . . . . -862 
n~ 1-4683 
W D + 46-4 
These are in good agreement with the physical constants recorded 
for d-a-pinene. Confirmatory evidence was obtained by oxidation of 
a sample to pinonic acid identified as its semicarbazone, according to the 
method set out in Parry’s Essential Oils. 
K 
