THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
FEBRUARY,  igo8 
SANDALWOOD  OIL  REQUIREMENTS. 
By  A.  R.  Iv.  Dohme,  and  H.  Engemardt. 
We  have  been  studying  East  Indian  sandalwood  oil  for  many 
years,  and  since  presenting  our  paper  on  the  subject  to  the  A.Ph.A. 
last  year,  we  have  continued  the  same  and  have  come  to  some  defi- 
nite conclusions.  We  stated  in  our  former  paper1  that  many  genuine 
East  Indian  sandalwood  oils  would  not  meet  the  requirements  of 
the  U.S. P.,  nor  will  they  of  the  B.P.  or  any  other  pharmacopoeia. 
Despite  this  fact  there  are  genuine  unadulterated  sandalwood  oils 
distilled  properly  from  sound  healthy  logs  grown  in  India,  even  in 
the  Mysore  district.  The  only  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  this  is 
that  the  U.S. P.  requirements  should  be  modified.  In  the  U.S.P. 
requirements  there  occur  at  least  four  separate  and  distinct  re- 
quirements that  must  be  met  to  make  a  sandalwood  oil  entitled  to 
the  soubriquet  "  U.S.P."    These  are  : 
1.  Specific  gravity  0-965-0-975  at  25 0  C.  (changed  later  to  0-965- 
0980). 
2.  Angle  of  rotation  upon  polarized  light  should  be  not  less  than 
— 160  nor  more  than  — 200  in  100  mm.  tube  at  250  C. 
3.  Soluble  completely  in  5  volumes  of  70  per  cent,  alcohol. 
4.  Should  contain  not  less  than  90  per  cent,  of  alcohols  calcu- 
lated as  santalol. 
As  to  which  of  these  requirements  is  the  most  important  a 
difference  of  opinion  exists,  but  there  should  not,  since  a  careful 
study  of  them  all  eliminates  all  of  them  but  one  as  being  crucial, 
decisive  and  reliable.    We  have  found,  as  have  other  investigators, 
1  Proceedings  A.Ph.A.,  1906,  or  American  Druggist,  49,  page  145. 
(5i) 
